Islamic State beheads 8, led to death by teens

William M. Welch | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw: Iraqi Troops make final push toward Tikrit Iraqi military operations continued on Sunday to try to retake the city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants. (March 29)

The Islamic State group released a new video Sunday showing its fighters cutting off the heads of eight men described as Shiite Muslims, who were led to their execution by teenage boys.

The eight men were beheaded in the central Syrian province of Hama. Blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs, the men are seen being led forward in a field by teenage boys, the Daily Mail reported.

The video was posted on social media. It could not be independently verified but it appeared to be genuine, the Associated Press reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in the United Kingdom said the video appeared authentic.

The video shows the hostages led in a field by teenage boys, where they were handed over to a group of fighters. A boy wearing a black uniform is seen handing out knives to the fighters before the hostages are killed.

An Islamic State fighter speaks in the video, calling the hostages "impure infidels" and saying the military campaign against the Islamic State will make the group stronger.

"Our swords will soon, God willing, reach ... allies like Bashar and his party," the man said in reference to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group that is fighting on his side.

One of the victims appeared to be Younes Hujairi, who was kidnapped from his hometown of Arsal near the Syrian border in January, his family told the state-run National News Agency of Lebanon.

The Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has beheaded scores of captives since capturing large parts of Iraq and Syria last year. Earlier this month, a video was released showing the beheading of three Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, security forces continued to fight Islamic State militants in Tikrit on Sunday with air support from the U.S. and its allies, Reuters reported.

Tikrit Mayor Osama al-Tikriti warned that retaking the city would be slow. "A rapid advance in a city where the ground is littered with bombs and booby-traps is too tough to achieve," he told Reuters.

The offensive in Tikrit, a town about 80 miles north of Baghdad that was the hometown of Saddam Hussein, has put the United States in an awkward position.

The bulk of the Iraqi force attacking into the city, about 20,000 fighters, is made up of Shiite militias who are supported by Iranian advisers and artillery and rocket support. The U.S. began conducting airstrikes around Tikrit on Wednesday, the Pentagon said.