Believing that nine residents of Mosul (northern Iraq) were collaborating with the government and acting as spies, Islamic State (IS) militants burned them alive. They also executed a local journalist.

Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbe was burned alive by IS in February of this year - Photo: Reuters

The al-Sumaria satellite television network, citing an anonymous local source, reported that the execution took place yesterday, July 22nd, in the Bab al-Toub area, near Mosul.

All the victims were male. They were accused of "collaborating with government forces and engaging in espionage."

Earlier that day, Iraqi media reported that ISIS had executed a journalist in Mosul. Akram Suleiman, a representative of the Kurdish journalists' group in Mosul, said the victim was young journalist Jala Adnan, who was killed on Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

This execution brings the total number of journalists killed by IS to 10 since Mosul fell to the group in June 2014.

On July 22, Jan Kubis, head of the United Nations mission in Iraq, warned that many Iraqis could turn to ISIS due to a lack of aid.

"We are deeply concerned by reports that many communities and families are being forced to rely on IS for support, as UN-sponsored aid programs are being shut down due to lack of funding," Kubis said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

He also stated that approximately 8.2 million Iraqis are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, representing nearly a quarter of Iraq's population.

"I call on the international community to do more to help the vulnerable and desperate communities in Iraq," he said.

According to a UN report last week, nearly 15,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed and 30,000 others injured since March 2014.

(According to Reuters/TTO)