BEIRUT (Associated Press) — An Islamic State fighter shot and killed his own mother before onlookers at a public square in the Syrian city of Raqqa after he was told that she was not a true believer, activists reported Friday, the latest in ISIL’s brutal public killings over the past two years in the de facto capital of the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate.
The killings — and there have been scores since ISIL blitzed across Iraq and Syria to capture large swaths of land in the summer of 2014 — are meant to spread terror and intimidate opponents. Many have been captured on camera, with the gruesome videos later posted on social media sites.
In 2014, a woman was stoned to death after ISIL charged her with adultery. Last year, the group put a Jordanian pilot inside a metal cage, then set him on fire, apparently also in Raqqa. The Islamic State has also posted images of beheadings of captured foreigners, journalists and aid workers, including Americans, British and those of other nationalities.
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