New Delhi: Dreaded terror group ISIS has beheaded its 4 fighters of Indian origin in full public view for trying to flee a war zone in Iraq's Mosul city. According to reports, these 4 Indians are among 20 militants who were executed last week.
Security agencies, however, said that there is no confirmation yet about the killing of 4 Indians and that they are verifying the reports through different sources.
Sending out a warning to others in the group against desertion, the ISIS in Iraq and Syria captured a group of its own fighters who tried to flee Mosul city of Nineveh province and executed them in public.
The dissidents were arrested at a checkpoint in the vicinity of Mosul on Friday. After being identified as fighters who have left their positions at the fighting front in western Mosul, they were transferred to the Sharia Court for prosecution.
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Subsequent to a brief interrogation, the Sharia Court decided to behead the dissidents on charges of treason, reports said.
Observers said the beheadings were made in a bid to terrorise ISIS members who may leave their posts in the war-torn region. The jihadis were beheaded in central Mosul in front of hundreds of people, mostly ISIS members and commanders.
ISIS considers jihadis who leave their posts without permission as traitors and enemies of its so-called Caliphate.
According to Indian intelligence agencies, a total of 23 Indians have so far joined ISIS of whom six were killed in different incidents in Iraq, Syria. As many as 17 Indians are believed to be in different conflict zones of the IS-held areas.
Earlier, an intelligence report shared by foreign intelligence agencies along with Indian agencies mentioned that ISIS does not consider South Asian Muslims, including Indians, good enough to fight in conflict zone of Iraq and Syria.
According to the content of the report it stated that South Asian Muslims which includes Indian Muslims also were treated as inferior than Arab fighters. They were often tricked and were pushed into suicide attacks.
This is not the first time that ISIS has executed its own militants on charges of treason. Earlier, it was reported that ISIS militants who lost a key town to Iraqi forces were burned alive in full public view by their own men after they fled to the group's stronghold of Mosul.
In December, the extremist group had beheaded ten militant fighters "convicted of high treason" for evacuating their post at the battlefront without the group's permission.
In November, ISIS executed 73 militant fighters for escaping battles with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Shingal (Sinjar) district in northern Iraq.
