Syrian rebels crucified: Islamic extremists execute two men in the most public way for 'fighting against Muslims' WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it had executed seven prisoners, including two by crucifixion Group said it held the seven responsible for grenade attack this month

Islamic extremists have publicly crucified two Syrian rebels in northeastern Syria in revenge for a grenade attack on members of their group.

The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it had executed a total of seven prisoners who it claimed had carried out a grenade attack on one of its fighters earlier this month in the Euphrates Valley city of Raqqa.

The group, which even Al Qaeda have been keen to distance themselves from, said on Twitter: 'Ten days ago, attackers on a motorbike threw a grenade at an ISIL fighter at the Naim roundabout. A Muslim civilian had his leg blown off and a child was killed.








Brutal: The images, which could not be independently verified, appear to demonstrate Isis's uncompromising brand of hardline Islamist justice

'Our fighters immediately set up a roadblock and succeeded in capturing them. They were then able to detain other members of the cell.'

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a photograph of the two prisoners being crucified at the roundabout.

Passers-by appear to be walking past the two men apparently unfazed.

One of the men is pictured with a banner wrapped round his body which reads: 'This man fought against Muslims and threw  a grenade in this place.'


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Abu Ibrahim Alrquaoui, who described himself as a founder of the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, told FoxNews.com that those killed had previously fought against the Syrian government of Bashir al-Assad.

He said he witnessed the executions and took photographs which are now being circulated online.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were not the first crucifixions by ISIL. On April 16, its fighters executed a man for theft from a Muslim in the same way.

ISIL's exactions caused a backlash against them from rival rebel groups, including Al-Qaeda's official Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front, who joined forces against its fighters from the start of the year.

ISIL has now been forced out of much of northern Syria but its fighters remain entrenched in Raqqa - the only provincial capital entirely outside Syrian government control - and much of its surrounding province.

The group also carried out three executions in the Raqqa provincial town of Tal Abyad, on the Turkish border, and two more in the town of Saluq, the Observatory said.

Last week, ISIL claimed responsibility for a series of explosions which killed 28 people and left more than 40 injured at a political rally in Iraq on Friday.

The militant group Asaib Ahl Haq (League of the Righteous) was presenting its candidates for elections on April 30 at the rally in eastern Baghdad.

Three bombs exploded in succession as people were leaving, reporters at the scene said.

A roadside bomb went off near the main gate, followed by a suicide car bomb after a few minutes and then a final explosion.

In a statement posted on the internet, ISIL said it had carried out the bombings in response to 'murder, torture and displacement' of Sunnis by Shi'ite militias which 'massacred children and women'.

In February, MailOnline reported how a Syrian girl was stoned to death for opening a Facebook account after a court, under the jurisdiction of ISIL, ruled the act of being a member of the social network deserved to be punished the same way as adultery.
ISIL: EXTREMIST GROUP EVEN AL QAEDA DISTANCED THEMSELVES FROM

ISIL (or ISIS) is a pro-Al Qaeda jihadist group that many feared was taking an iron grip over parts of Syria.

The group was formed in April 2013 and grew out of Al Qaeda's affiliate organisation in Iraq. It has since become one of the main jihadist groups fighting government forces in Syria.

The final letter in the acronym ISIL stems from the Arabic word 'al-Sham'. This can mean the Levant, Syria or even Damascus but in the context of the global jihad it refers to the Levant.

Its precise size is unknown, but it is thought to include thousands of fighters, including many foreign jihadists.

Analysts say non-Syrians constitute a majority of ISIL's elite fighter corps and are disproportionately represented in its leadership.

It took over the city of Al-Reqqa after rebels overran the city in March 2013. It was the first provincial capital to fall under rebel control.

It also has a presence in a number of towns close to the Turkish border in the north of the country, and has gained a reputation for brutal rule in the areas that it controls.

The group has been operating independently of other jihadist groups such as the Nusra Front and has had a tense relationship with other rebels in Syria. Al Qaeda refuse to deal with them.

In July, a commander of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) was reportedly shot dead by ISIL fighters in the coastal province of Lattakia.

There were also reports of deadly clashes between the two groups in the north-western province of Idlib. ISIL also seized the northern town of Azaz from the FSA on 18 September.

There has also been friction with other Islamists. In November 2013, ISIL was accused of killing a prominent member of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham.