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Isis 'executes up to 200 fighters' for trying to flee jihad and return home

A monitoring group has documented at least 120 killings by the terrorist network

Ben Tufft
Monday 29 December 2014 12:27 GMT
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What is alleged to be an Isis fighter in Kobani, on the Syria-Turkey border
What is alleged to be an Isis fighter in Kobani, on the Syria-Turkey border (AFP/Getty Images)

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Isis has executed at least 120 of its own militants in the past three months, the majority of whom were foreign fighters trying to return home, according to a Syrian monitoring group.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the brutal militant group killed the jihadists - most of whom were foreign fighters - for trying to flee the territory adding that the true number could be even higher.

Rami Abdurrahman, the director of the group, told The Independent: “We can confirm that 120 fighters have been killed by Isis, but from our sources on the ground we believe that over 200 have actually been killed.”

Of the 120 militants confirmed executed for “exceeding the limits in religion”, 116 are believed to be foreign fighters who wanted to return home.

The monitoring group said it could not confirm the ages or nationalities of the fighters, but it is known that some of them were Europeans.

The number of militants killed represents only a small percentage of the 1,880 documented individuals Isis has murdered since the terrorist network declared a "Caliphate" or "Islamic state" in June this year.

Over the past six months Isis has slain 1,177 civilians, including eight women and two children.

The victims were shot, beheaded or stoned to death in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Deir, Ezzor, Hama, Homs, Hasakeh and Raqa.

It is estimated that 930 civilians from the al-Shaitaat tribe, which is at war with Isis in eastern Syria, were killed in the countryside of Deir Ezzor.

As well as executing its own members and civilians, Isis has killed 502 soldiers who were fighting for President Assad and 91 anti-regime combatants.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believes the overall number killed by Isis to be far higher than they have confirmed, as hundreds are missing still missing and detainees are being held inside Isis jails.

The news comes as Isis aggressively pursues its aims and is expanding into Egypt. It now controls an area greater in size than the UK across Syria and Iraq.

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