Fighters of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) executed nine people today in two cities in the north of Iraq, accusing them of ties to anti-jihadist Sunni organizations, security sources and witnesses announced.
In the town of Az-Zab, about 90 kilometers west of Kirkuk, six people were publicly executed.
According to witnesses, they were accused of being associated with Sunni groups that are organizing a rebellion against IS members in the Hawija region.
They were executed in the city's market, in the same area as the village of Tel Ali, whose residents burned an IS flag last month.
In revenge, the jihadists kidnapped 50 residents of the village and placed their flags all over the region, and even set traps on some of them, so that the residents could not remove them, AFP reported.
Three more men, abducted a few days ago, were executed by beheading in the town of Baidži. They are former members of the Sahva organization, which was founded by the US in 2007 in the fight against Al Qaeda.
De Mistura: Civilians in Kobani are threatened with massacre, world to prevent catastrophe
At least 500 civilians are trapped in the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobani and are threatened with massacre if the city falls into the hands of extremists, warned the UN envoy for Syria.
The new UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, issued the warning as Islamic State fighters push into Kobani, the first since they launched an offensive in the area along the Syrian-Turkish border in mid-September.
Because of their offensive, more than 200.000 people fled across the border to Turkey.
According to activists, over 500 people have already died in the fighting around Kobani.
Extremists today shelled a Syrian border crossing with Turkey in an effort to seize it and cut off access to Kobani.
De Mistura said that UN analyzes of the situation on the ground indicate that only a small part of the city remained open for a possible evacuation of residents.
He said there are between 500 and 700 elderly people and other civilians trapped there, while between 10.000 and 13.000 people cut off in a nearby area, close to the border.
Addressing journalists in Geneva, de Mistura recalled the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and Srebrenica in July 1995 when he appealed to the world to prevent another catastrophe.
Increased airstrikes, fighting in the streets
The coalition, led by the US military, today intensified air attacks on the positions of extremists of the Islamic State (ISIL) in the city of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border.
At the same time, fighting is taking place on the streets of the city between Kurdish forces and jihadists who have allegedly increased their presence, the agencies reported.
They have managed to capture a third of the predominantly Kurdish city, but Kurdish officials deny this, claiming that their forces have regained control of several areas of the city.
"I can confirm that they do not control a third of the city. It is only a small part of Kobani under the control of ISIL," said local Kurdish official Idriz Nasan.
The US Central Command announced on Thursday that in the strikes in the vicinity of Kobani, a training camp for ISIL fighters was damaged, a building and two vehicles were destroyed, and that two units of the Islamic State were liquidated.
Despite airstrikes, ISIL fighters managed to capture a police station in the eastern part of Kobane, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
She states that 11 jihadists were killed, and that Kurdish forces captured four members of ISIL.
The station was later bombed by international forces, according to AFP and reports that fierce clashes are still ongoing near the station.
The Observatory states that more than 20 airstrikes have been carried out since Wednesday and warns that at least 200 Kobani residents have fled across the border to Turkish territory.
Since the intensification of the conflict in that city, more than 500 people have died, according to the Observatory, which is based in London.
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