Islamic State Executes 3 Assyrian Christians, Demands Ransom for Others
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has reportedly executed three of the Assyrian Christians they kidnapped from northern Syria and demanded ransom for the lives of the others.
On Thursday, the British human rights monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS militants executed three Assyrian Christian prisoners. The killed captives were among the almost 200 Christians that the militants abducted this year in Syria, according to a Reuters report published on Al Arabiya.
The three male Christian captives met their deaths in September but news of the execution only surfaced this week. The Observatory said a footage showing their execution was posted online, the report details.
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The Assyrian Human Rights Network also backed the British group's report and said ISIS militants killed the three Christian men two weeks ago. The monitoring group believes the execution took place during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the "Feast of Sacrifice," when Muslims worldwide perform a ritual of slaughtering animals.
In the ISIS video, the three Assyrian Christian men died after being shot behind the head. The footage also showed three other hostages. The terror group is demanding for ransom payment of $50,000 for every prisoner, PJ Media reports.
The said video shows each man identifying himself as a "Nazarene" or a Christian. The recently killed captives were later identified as Dr. Abdel-Maseeh Aniyah, Bassam Issa Michael, and Ashur Rustam Abraham.
ISIS still holds around 280 captives right now. The ransom they are demanding for the lives of the remaining prisoners amounts to a total of $14 million, the report adds.
ISIS threatened to kill more Assyrian captives if the demanded ransom is not paid.
In February, ISIS militants attacked the Khabur River valley located in northeastern Syria. The assailants reportedly targeted some Assyrian Christian villages and "systematically burned" the churches, then took hundreds of hostages with them.
