Last Updated Dec 27th, 2019 at 12:25 pm

Ten Christian hostages in Nigeria were killed by Islamic State terrorists on Christmas Day, reports claim. The Islamic State West African Province said it killed the hostages as revenge for the deaths of their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, both of whom were killed in late October.

A video released on Wednesday showed 13 hostages, 10 believed to be Christian and three to be Muslim. The terrorist organization said it spared the lives of two of the Muslims.

One hostage was shot in the head and the rest were beheaded.

"We killed them as a revenge for the killings of our leaders, including Abu bakr al-Baghdadi and Abul-Hasan Al-Muhajir in Iraq and Syria," the organization said in a statement.

The deaths came after an earlier video with the hostages asking the Christian Association of Nigeria to negotiate their release.