Endless savagery.
Via Daily Mail:
Islamist militants have reportedly beheaded dozens of soldiers at a Syrian army base and mounted their heads on poles.
Extremists from the group Islamic State, previously known as ISIS, seized the base in the northern province of Raqqa, leaving more than 85 soldiers dead and 200 more unaccounted for.
The Syrian Human Rights Observatory said at least 50 of the soldiers had been executed – many of them beheaded – as horrifying footage began circulating online which appeared to show the bodies.
The video, which has not been independently verified, features a voiceover by one of the militants as several decapitated heads are shown mounted on poles on top of a fence.
At least two of the bodies at the Division 17 base were crucified, according to the Associated Press, which said the video appeared to be genuine.
The head of the British-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP hundreds of troops ‘withdrew on Friday to safe places – either to nearby villages whose residents oppose IS or to nearby Brigade 93 – but the fate of some 200 remains unknown’.
He added: ‘Some of the executed troops were beheaded, and their bodies and severed heads put on display in Raqqa city.’
More than 50 troops were summarily executed, 19 others were killed in a double suicide bombing and at least 16 more died in the assault launched on Thursday, he said.