Islamic State terrorists execute two civilians for collaborating with military in North Sinai

Two Bedouin tribesmen from North Sinai have been executed by Islamic State fighters after being accused of collaborating with the military, in the latest series of retaliations by the group against civilian confidential informants, local sources told Middle East Eye on Monday.

Last week, MEE reported the kidnapping of 14 men from Al-Dawaghra tribe, known for its close ties with security forces in North Sinai. According to tribal sources, 12 were released on Thursday, while Mohamed Ibrahim Hamdan, 23, and Swilam Ahmed Swilam, 44, were killed by Islamic State fighters.

Both men are fish vendors in the local market in Bir al-Abd. The 12 released men were interrogated and let go with a warning not to collaborate or work for the military or the Egyptian government.

On Saturday, a video was published on a Telegram channel affiliated with IS, titled “The Neutralisation of Two Spies for the Egyptian Army”. The video shows Hamdan and Swilam confessing to their recruitment by the Egyptian armed forces as informants, before being executed by gunfire.

In the video, Swilam can be heard saying that he was a guide who worked with a military intelligence major named Gaber who instructed him to report the movements of IS fighters. “In one incident, the army waited and ambushed the soldiers of the Islamic State. Three of them [IS members] were killed.”

Swilam also said he drove officers going on vacations back and forth from and to Sinai. It is not clear how Hamdan collaborated with the military.

In the video Swilam can be seen digging his grave in an unknown location. Above him an Islamic State fighter can be seen, and is heard saying “Today we avenge the blood of our jihadi brothers who were killed due to the actions of this spy for over a year.”

IS does not only target informants working with the security services, but also workers, drivers and vendors who do services with the government.

“This is for the spies and al-Sahawat [pro-military militias]. They should know that we are ready for them…and we are going to, God willing, hunt them down in their homes. We have warned them many times, but they do not repent,” the Islamic State fighter said before shooting Swilam in the back.

Al-Sahawat, the Awakening, is a term used by Sunni Islamist militants to refer to pro-government militias. It wasn used during the Iraq war to refer to tribes and militiamen who took arms against militant groups in Al-Anbar, Iraq, after receiving support from the Americans. In North Sinai, it is used to refer to the pro-military tribes and militias, primarily the Union of Sinai Tribes.

The video also shows an Islamic State fighter shouting “this is the fate of apostates”, before shooting Hamdan who was seen sitting on the ground handcuffed.

Source: Middle East Eye