More than 50 executed in Aleppo bloodbath as rebels turn against each other



WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Jihadi group summarily executed at least 50 captives, activists claim

Horrifying images show piles of executed men, blindfolded and handcuffed



Extremist Islamists ISIL are fighting alliance of rebels in northern Syria

Al Qaeda-linked group ISIL vowed to crush rival opposition groups

ISIL fighters were told to 'pluck the heads' of leaders of other factions



Hundreds have been killed in violent clashes between rebel groups



Horrifying images today emerged from Syria which allegedly show the aftermath of the summary execution of more than 50 rival rebels by an extreme faction fighting to overthrow Bashar al Assad.

Al Qaeda-linked faction, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is accused of handcuffing, blindfolding then shooting dead the men from other Islamic groups fighting in the civil war.

ISIL had earlier vowed to crush opposition groups it has been confronting in the worst outbreak of infighting among rebels.

Heavy fighting between rebels in Syria has killed hundreds of people over the last five days.

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Atrocity: Rebel fighters gesture next to the bodies of handcuffed and blindfolded dead men laying on the ground of the Aleppo headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

The group lost its main base in the northern city of Aleppo to rival rebels today, a monitoring group said.

Inside were piles of bodies of men who appeared to have been executed.

A statement from the ISIL spokesman known as Abu Mohammed al-Adnani , issued late on Tuesday, said: 'Know that we have armies in Iraq and Syria... we warn you, we will crush them and kill the conspiracy in its cradle.'



The audio statement was released hours after the head of the al Qaeda branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, called for a truce to halt the fighting.

The clashes have pitted many rebel groups in Syria, including Islamist forces, against ISIL and have been the bloodiest rebel-on-rebel violence since the civil war in Syria began in the first half of 2011.

Horror: Shocking images of dozens of bodies of men, handcuffed and blindfolded, have emerged from Aleppo where rebel groups have begun a brutal internecine battle

'Executed': The body of a handcuffed and blindfolded dead man lies on the ground of the Aleppo headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

While both the Nusra Front and ISIL have roots in the global al Qaeda network and welcome foreign militants, the Nusra Front has focused its goals on toppling Assad instead of creating an Islamic state, which has been the main aim of ISIL.

Nusra forces have also cooperated more with other rebel groups and largely avoided the power struggles that ISIL has faced since wresting control of many opposition-held areas from other groups.

ISIL is the restructured al Qaeda branch of Iraq, but its spread into Syria is opposed by al Qaeda's central leadership, which has recognised the Nusra Front instead.

Adnani said fellow Islamists from the Sunni Muslim sect had been dragged into a conspiracy against it.

Brutal: These three men were allegedly executed by the al-Qaeda-linked group, in the northern city of Aleppo, as rebel groups turn on each other

Bloodbath: The men were blindfolded and handcuffed before being executed by fighters from rebel group ISIL, according to activists

'Those who are from battalions raising the flags of Islam, who tricked you? Who implicated you and made you sign to fight against the mujahideen (holy warriors)?'

In Adnani's audio message, he also told ISIL fighters to 'pluck the heads' of any leaders of the Syrian National Coalition - the internationally recognised opposition - or rebel groups tied to them.

'Kill them wherever you find them and without dignity,' he said.



'They launched this war against us and started it... Therefore anyone who is a member of this entity is a legitimate target for us wherever he may be, unless he declares his innocence from this sect in public and renounces his fight against the mujahideen.'

Grim: Dead men lie on the ground of the Aleppo headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after they were allegedly executed by the al-Qaeda-linked group

Chaos: Islamic fighters in Syria have been pitted against each other in the bloodiest rebel-on-rebel violence since the civil war began in the first half of 2011

It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the statement, but it was widely cited on Islamist social networks on the Internet.

Rebel groups last week launched what appeared to be a series of coordinated strikes against ISIL in northern and eastern Syria after months of increasing tensions with the group, which has alienated many Syrians in rebel-held regions.



The fighting was endorsed by the opposition's mainstream National Coalition, which is backed by Western and Gulf states.

Islamist rebels on Wednesday took control of ISIL's main base in Aleppo, a northern city that was once Syria's largest and is now divided between government and rebel forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Devastation: Two men lie side by side in a pool of blood where they were tied up and shot in a brutal bout of fighting between disparate rebel factions in Syria's civil war

Some 385 people have been killed in the rebel infighting since Friday morning in Aleppo, Raqqa, Idlib and Hama provinces, according to the Observatory.

Fifty-six of those killed were civilians - nine executed by ISIL and the others caught in crossfire - while 131 were ISIL fighters and 198 were from rival factions, it added.