ISIS executioners kill Syrian ‘spies’ in the region where they kidnapped 700 hostages
Gruesome pictures have emerged showing ISIS thugs killing so-called ‘spies’ in the same region where they kidnapped hundreds of hostages – including jihadist widows.
Images show five captives, purportedly members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, kneeling in front of masked fanatics in Deir ez-Zor province before being shot in the head.
The photos, which show a child watching on in the background, emerged after reports that ISIS had raided the Al-Bahra refugee camp in the same province.
According to the respected Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), some 90 women described as ISIS widows or wives of former jihadists were among those seized in the raid.
Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Islamist terrorists had kidnapped a total of 700 hostages and warned the extremists will kill ten every day unless their demands are met. But the US says it is ‘sceptical’ about those claims.
While the US military acknowledging there had been an attack on the camp, the rest of Putin’s claims were described as ‘unsubstantiated’.
Pentagon spokesman, Commander Sean Robertson said in a statement: ‘While we have confirmed there was an attack on an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp near (Deir ez-Zor) last week, we have no information supporting the large number of hostages alleged by President Putin and we are sceptical of its accuracy.’
SOHR images show the plight of people in the Al-Bahra refugee camp, which is in an area of eastern Syria controlled by U.S.-backed forces.
According to Putin, some 700 refugees were abducted on October 13, with ISIS kidnapping around 130 families before taking them to the nearby city of Hajin. He claimed that the hostages included several U.S. and European nationals.
Speaking at the Valdai discussion forum in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Putin said yesterday that ISIS leaders had made demands, but did not specify what they were.
However, The Observatory reported this week that negotiations have begun, and that ISIS are demanding ‘food and medical supplies’ in exchange for the hostages’ safe return.
‘They have issued ultimatums, specific demands and warned that if these ultimatums are not met they will execute ten people every day.
‘The day before yesterday they executed ten people,’ Putin said, adding: ‘This is just horrible, it is a catastrophe.’
The attack on the refugee camp in Deir ez-Zor last week came after several days of intense clashes between ISIS and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
The SDF said in a statement that the fighting in the Hajin refugee camp on October 13 which resulted in the kidnapping, had left 20 ISIS gunmen and ‘several’ SDF fighters dead.
Since ISIS lost most of its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq over the past two years, the extremists have been resorting to attacks on civilians to show that they are still effective, the Observatory said.
Earlier this week, the United Nations warned that the fight for Hajin, where the SDF estimates some 3,000 ISIS fighters remain, was having a ‘devastating’ effect on thousands of civilians.
Source: Daily Mail
