ISIL kills four top own commanders in northern Iraq

The ISIL Takfiri group has reportedly executed four of its own senior commanders in Iraq’s northern province of Salahuddin on the ground that they had fled clashes with Iraqi government forces.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the terrorist group’s leader, Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ordered the execution of the top-brass ISIL extremists by the firing squad on the outskirts of the city of Shirqat, located some 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, English-language online newspaper Iraqi News reported.

The source added that the executed militants had fled skirmishes with Iraqi forces in the city of Muqdadiyah, situated about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, and were arrested two months ago.

On February 11, ISIL executed nearly two dozen of fellow militants by the firing squad in the city of Tal Afar, located 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad. The executed terrorists had reportedly escaped clashes with Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The development came a day after ISIL executed 13 of its own members after they had suffered defeat during an offensive in Iraq’s northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.

The terrorists have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against all Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have recently succeeded in driving the ISIL terrorists out of some areas in Iraq.