320 members executed by IS supreme leader
Amidst rumors of his death, Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi reportedly called on hundreds of supporters to execute 320 disloyal members, Shafaq News reported.
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| Supreme leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi (Photo: AFP) |
Shafaq News quoted intelligence sources on October 10 saying that Baghdadi recently ordered the execution of 320 IS members in Syria and Iraq for disloyalty or negligence, causing the organization to suffer heavy defeats there.
According to the source, the list of members ordered to be executed includes senior leaders such as Abu al-Baraa al-Ansari, Sief al-Din al-Iraqi, Abu Otham al-Tal Afari, Abu Iman al-Mowahed and Marawan Hadid al-Suri.
The execution order came just a week after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a large-scale attack on IS strongholds near the border city of Albukamal in Deir ez-Zor province, eastern Syria.
In August, IS also released an audio recording believed to be from Baghdadi urging his followers to persevere and deal with the information war. The speaker in the recording tries to explain to IS supporters that victory or defeat should not be judged based on territorial control or military superiority. He calls on his followers to "remain loyal" to the IS leader and continue to use bombs, knives or vehicles to carry out terrorist attacks.
Baghdadi has been missing since September last year. Iraqi media recently reported that he was left in a vegetative state after being hit by an Iraqi airstrike in Syria last year targeting a high-level IS meeting. To date, information about his fate remains extremely chaotic.
