Pinned to the desert floor by a masked militant, a prisoner is beheaded in the latest barbaric execution by the Islamic State. The shocking images appear to be a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from yesterday's embarrassing defeat in Tal Abyad that has now cut off their key supply route in Syria.
They show a masked, black-clad militant brandishing a hunting knife behind the captive in a sickening echo of the executions meted out by the British ISIS militant known as Jihadi John.
The victim is then forced face down into the dirt before having his head yanked back as the fanatic takes the knife to his throat. In the last image, his head is then seen resting on the back of his corpse in what has become a shocking trademark sign-off employed by the jihadists. The pictures are high quality and carry the distinctive yellow branding of the group's propaganda wing, suggesting they may be stills from an as-yet unreleased video.
The prisoner has been named on social media as Abdullah Baseer Anis, who is understood to have been a member of the Syrian rebel group Jaysh Al-Islam – or Army of Islam – which has been fighting alongside the Kurds against ISIS.
The images were released just hours after triumphant Kurdish fighters raised their flag over the border town of Tai Abyad yesterday, dealing a humiliating blow to ISIS which had been entrenched there for more than a year.
This morning, a Kurdish commander and activists said Kurdish fighters were now in full control of the town, a key supply line for their nearby self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa. Haqi Kobane said Kurdish units were starting to clean up the town along the border with Turkey from booby traps and mines planted by the extremists before they left.
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