GENEVA (AP) – Syrian state TV says Islamic State militants have kidnapped 300 cement workers and contractors in an area northeast of the capital, Damascus.

The TV says the workers from the al-Badia Cement Company were abducted on Thursday from Dumeir, an area where militants launched a surprise attack against government forces earlier this week.

State-run news agency SANA quoted a source in the company as saying that there has been no success in efforts to establish contact with any of the workers.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria conflict, said earlier in the day that contact was lost with dozens of workers in Dumeir.