The Islamic State executed one of its judges and four other leading commanders by a shooting squad for escaping battles against government forces in the eastern side of the city of Mosul, according to a military source and like reported by iraqinews.com.
Col. Khaled al-Jewari, from the Joint Operations Command, told DPA that a senior judge at the extremist group, nicknamed Abu Hafsa, along with other combat commanders, were shot to death by the group for escaping during encounters that saw government troops retaking the eastern section of Mosul after 100 days of security operations.
The execution was witnessed by a huge crowd in the town of Badush in western Mosul.
Iraqi forces consummated the recapture of eastern Mosul on Tuesday, the biggest victory over Islamic State militants since operations launched in mid October. Iraqi generals are preparing to storm the western side of the city where IS still maintains a majority of territory.
IS fighters, who have shown fierce resilience over the past months, weakened as operations in the east neared their end, with reports telling of serious divisions and infighting within its ranks. Many reports had told that the group sentenced some of its fighters to death for delinquency on the battlefield.
