Islamic State ‘has executed 116 foreign fighters

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the men killed were foreign fighters who had joined the insurgency but were caught trying to leave territory controlled by militants.

But the monitoring group warned numbers were probably underestimated. 'We believe that the real number of people that had been killed by IS is higher than the number documented,' it said on its website.

Those killed for their attempted desertion were among a total of at least 1,878 people executed in six months by the self-styled Islamic State, which enforces an extreme version of religious law on the areas it controls.

The militant group has taken vast parts of Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate in territory under its control in June. Since then it has fought the Syrian and Iraqi governments, other insurgents and Kurdish forces.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian monitoring group, told Reuters that Islamic State killed at least 1,175 civilians, including eight women and four children.

He said 930 of the civilians were members of the Sheitaat, a Sunni Muslim tribe from eastern Syria which fought Islamic State for control of two oilfields in August.

Islamic State has publicised beheadings and stoning of many people in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq. These are for actions that violate its reading of Islamic law, such as adultery, homosexuality, stealing and blasphemy.

It nevertheless may come as a surprise that more than one in every twenty people executed by Islamic State is a foreign fighter who had travelled to join their cause.

The insurgency raging across Iraq and Syria has drawn many thousands of disaffected, young and radicalised Sunni Muslims who believe it is a chance to show their pious devotion while having the adventure of a lifetime.

Sunni youths in towns overrun by the insurgent group also face a stark choice, between becoming fighters or suicide bombers for the group.

Last week a 14-year-old handed himself in to Iraqi authorities after he was sent to blow himself up inside a Shia mosque.

(dailymail.co.uk)