MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh in Arabic) fighters executed 50 new members of the organization from the central Iraqi city of Ramadi for refusing to wear suicide belts, a spokesman for Iraq's al-Hashd al-Shaabi umbrella group of Shiite militias, Maj. Omar Khamis, said Thursday.
"Daesh militants executed 50 Ramadi citizens who had joined the group after they refused to wear suicide belts," Khamis told the local TV channel Alsumaria.
According to Khamis, the Daesh jihadists executed their associates in order to avoid the risk of the details of crimes committed by the group in Ramadi being disclosed should they be arrested by security forces.
On Tuesday, Iraqi troops entered a central district of Ramadi, driving Daesh fighters out of their positions. Iraqi army spokesman Yahya Rasoul Abdullah told Sputnik that the Iraqi and the US-led anti-Daesh coalition air forces, as well as Anbar province police, had provided the Iraqi troops with support.
Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia, has seized large areas in Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate on territories under its control. The group is currently considered to be one the main threats to global security. According to reports, Daesh jihadists are trying to expand their influence in North African countries, particularly in Libya.
