Militants from the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) executed 10 people in a mainly Kurdish village in Iraq, activists said on Saturday.
The executions were carried out in the village of Zur Maghar, west of the autonomous region of Kurdistan, following ISIL’s capture of three Kurdish villages in the area on Friday, independent Kurdish Bas News agency reported, citing unnamed activists.
The victims - local tribal chiefs and the elderly - were killed by hanging or shooting, according to the report.
Three of them were left hanging from posts at a crossroad, with the aim of intimidating local residents. ISIL, an al-Qaeda breakaway group believed to be backed by local Sunni militias, seized large chunks of territory in northern and western Iraq in a blitz last month.
The radical Sunni group already controls parts of eastern Syria, raising international fears about the emergence of a regional militant enclave. Earlier this week, ISIL declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under its control in Iraq and Syria.
