Jihadists execute seven in Syria, two by crucifixion
The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it had executed seven prisoners in its bastion in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, two of them by crucifixion, AFP reported.
ISIL, which has been disavowed even by Al-Qaeda, said it held the seven responsible for a grenade attack on one of its fighters earlier this month in the Euphrates Valley city of Raqa, which it rules with an iron fist.
"Ten days ago, attackers on a motorbike threw a grenade at an ISIL fighter at the Naim roundabout. A Muslim civilian had his leg blown off and a child was killed," the group said on Twitter.
"Our fighters immediately set up a roadblock and succeeded in capturing them. They were then able to detain other members of the cell."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a photograph of the two prisoners being crucified at the roundabout with passer-by walking past apparently unfazed.
One of them, blindfolded and with his head spattered with blood, had a banner wrapped round his body proclaiming: "This man fought against Muslims and threw a grenade in this place."
The monitoring group said they were not the first crucifixions by ISIL. On April 16, its fighters executed a man for theft from a Muslim in the same way.