Top Islamic State 'Police' Beheaded In Syria, Monitoring Group Says
A top police officer for the Islamic State terrorist group was recently found decapitated with a cigarette shoved into his mouth, a Syrian monitoring group said.
According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the head police officer, who worked as a deputy for the al-Hesbah security force in eastern Syria, was found near a nuclear power plant in the Deir-al-Zor province.
The man's body reportedly showed signs of torture, and he had been beheaded with a cigarette stuffed in his mouth. Written on the man's body were the words: "This is evil, you Sheikh."
"We do not know whether Islamic State killed him or whether it was local people or other fighters," Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Observatory, told Reuters.
"Either way it is important, because he was a very important man," Adbulrahman added.
Abdulrahman added to Reuters that the officer's death is especially unique because the observatory believes this is the first time a member of the Islamic State has been killed by beheading.
The recent announcement of this beheading comes after an Islamic State suicide bomber reportedly killed 23 Iraqi government troops in the western province of Anbar.
The recent killing of government troops caused Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to vow that the government will retake areas dominated by the Islamic State.
"We will emerge as victorious and the day our lands are liberated is nearing," al-Abadi said in a recent statement. "Our goal […] is that peace and prosperity prevail in Iraq and end this dark period in Iraqi history."
