CAIRO (Sputnik) — The Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) group has executed 50 of its own members after they fled their positions on the outskirts of Mosul amid a military operation to retake the last stronghold of the terrorists in Iraq, local media reported Monday.
According to the Alsumaria broadcaster citing its sources, all the accused were charged with apostasy. The execution was carried out in a military camp to the west of Mosul.
The executed Daesh members were refugees from other parts of Iraq and were not Daesh "fanatics," the sources said, adding that they had once joined Daesh ranks threatened with death.
The Daesh militants also reportedly cut off ears of at least 20 other members of the group, including two citizens of China and France, who attempted to flee the Mosul battleground.
On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of a military operation to recapture Mosul from Daesh, outlawed in Russia, with the help of airstrikes by the US-led international coalition. According to media reports, about 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were initially taking part in the operation.
