A video purportedly showing Islamic State militants murdering what appear to be 200 Syrian children was posted online Monday by an anti-Islamic State group based in Yemen.
The video is believed to have been filmed in August 2014, when the terrorist group captured Tabqa airbase from Syrian government forces, the New York Daily News reported.
The disturbing footage shows the militants shooting the victims as they lay face-down in the dirt.
One shooter can be heard yelling “Allahu Akbar! (God is great!)” amid the rapid gunfire as dust rises around the victims.
The video is believed to have been recorded for propaganda purposes. It is not the first time the terrorist group has carried out a mass execution.
Last year, Islamic State militants butchered 1,700 Iraqi cadets in a mass execution that lasted all day and all night. Before their deaths, the cadets were forced to jog through the desert in their underwear.
This week, Islamic State supporters lined up and beheaded four men, two women and a child in Afghanistan. The executions were thought to be a form of ethnic cleansing as all of the victims were members of a long-oppressed ethnic Shiite minority known as Hazaras.
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said he was “profoundly saddened” by the killings and vowed to punish the culprits.
The headless bodies of the victims, all of whom were kidnapped a month ago, were found Saturday in the Zabul province, said Mohammad Anwar, the local governor, the New York Daily News reported.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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