According to a report from Iraqi News, the Islamic State staged the public execution of six youths from a “resistance faction” in Mosul by handcuffing them and then killing them with a welding machine, before a large crowd of onlookers.
“This came in order to create a state of fear and panic among the people,” said a source from within Mosul.
The Toronto Sun explains that the Islamic State often uses the term “resistance group” to describe groups of young people who spray graffiti on the walls of occupied cities.
Fox News reported the six boys, whose exact ages are uncertain, were executed for the “crime” of playing soccer, but other sources, such as the UK Daily Mail, say three other youths were punished for playing soccer with a savage beating. Their punishment was 30 lashes, not death by welding rod. One of the soccer fans who was beaten was wearing soccer player Lionel Messi’s T-shirt.
A source quoted by the Daily Mail explained that the Islamic State teaches that organized sports, such as soccer, are prohibited under Islam.
In July, Islamic State militants drove this point home by beheading four soccer players who had also been accused of spying for the Kurds. The UK Mirror recalls that last year, the terror group executed 13 teenage boys in Mosul for watching the Asian Cup match between Iraq and Jordan on television.
None of the reports on the latest Islamic State atrocity explain exactly how the executions were performed with the welding equipment.