An elderly Yazidi woman who was released by Islamic militants waits inside a bus before being driven to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 18. 2015. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Two Yazidi boys, suffering from several infections from mosquito bites while held by the Islamic State group, wait with their mother inside a bus before being driven to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 18. 2015. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

An elderly disabled Yazidi man is carried to a bus that will bring him to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, after being released by Islamic militants, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 18. 2015. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

A disabled Yazidi boy is carried into a bus that will bring him to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, after being released by Islamic militants, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 18. 2015. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

A boy from the minority Yazidi sect looks on in the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

Kurdish security forces help an elderly man from the minority Yazidi sect, seated in a truck, on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

People from the minority Yazidi sect gather along a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

People from the minority Yazidi sect wait along a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

A member of the Kurdish security forces walks past people from the minority Yazidi sect, on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

People from the minority Yazidi sect sit while waiting along a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

People from the minority Yazidi sect carry their belongings while waiting along a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

Kurdish security forces help people from the minority Yazidi sect, on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

Kurdish security forces help people from the minority Yazidi sect, on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

People from the minority Yazidi sect, wait inside a truck along a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk January 17, 2015. Islamic State freed around 350 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority on Saturday, delivering them to safety in the country's Kurdish north. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, January 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. Picture taken January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, January 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. Picture taken January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, January 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. Picture taken January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, January 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. Picture taken January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, January 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. Picture taken January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

The Isis militant group has reportedly carried out a seemingly unprecedented string of public executions – including throwing men accused of being gay off towers, stoning a woman accused of adultery and crucifying at least 17 young men in a 48-hour period.

Disturbing images appeared across Isis-affiliated social media accounts at the end of last week at an unusually high rate, culminating in the murder of two blindfolded men who were pushed to their deaths from a height towards a watching crowd below.

Images showing the executions began to emerge on Thursday, and were attributed to the “Information Office of the mandate of Nineveh”, a city in Iraq. They claim to show Isis militants carrying out “hudud”, the system of fixed punishments for what the group’s courts regard as serious crimes.

The pictures show the men accused of being gay at the top of a large tower overlooking the city. One image shows a man falling towards the ground, where a large crowd appears to be controlled by a line of militants. Later images show both men’s bodies at the base of the towers.

Other images from a separate incident, also reported in Nineveh, Iraq, appear to show a white-bearded militant in black robes reading from a piece of paper next to a woman with her arms tied behind her back. She appears to then be stoned to death.

And in a third set of images, two men are shown tied to crosses in a public square, their faces covered with masks. Captions claim that the men were convicted by an Islamic court of “robbing innocent civilians”, before they are shot in the head as a large crowd watches on.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the latest flurry of public executions came after Isis suffered a string of recent assassinations, and with their overall military advance across Iraq and Syria apparently on the back foot.

The monitoring group said on Friday that it was aware of Isis crucifying 17 young men in the space of 48 hours, and that it came as a direct retaliation for the deaths of 12 Syrian, Iraqi and Algerian jihadists.

The observatory said: “Isis is sending a message to all people living under its control, to say: 'This is what will happen to any opponent,” the IB Times reported.

On Saturday, the US-led anti-Isis coalition claimed to have carried out 29 air strikes on Syria and Iraq in a 24-hour period.

Sixteen strikes around seven Iraqi cities destroyed vehicles, buildings, equipment and fighting positions, as well as militants themselves, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.

In Syria, 11 airstrikes were carried out near the city of Kobani, destroying a tank and fighting positions, while others focused on targets near Abu Kamal and Dawr az Zawr.

(Independent.co.uk)

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