- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
- The gruesome scene believed to be from the northern-Iraqi city of Hawija
- One man pictured next to the bodies appears to be notorious ISIS fighter
- Abu al-Rahman has been seen alongside the heads of decapitated Syrians
- Caged Syrian soldiers were mercilessly paraded through that same city
- ISIS are preparing to move headquarters there from stronghold in Mosul
- US is currently training Iraqi soldiers to retake Iraq's second largest city
Published:
11:31 GMT, 7 March 2015
|
Updated:
13:16 GMT, 7 March 2015
Eight dead bodies hang from a metal frame in the Iraq's Kirkuk province in Islamic State's latest public display of barbarity.
The
gruesome images which emerged on social media show the men's limp
bodies suspended from their feet off a tall structure in the town of
Hawija.
The notorious black flag used by Islamist groups like ISIS is displayed above them as horrified onlookers inspect the scene.
Some of the deceased men appear to be wearing military fatigues but it is not known if they were Iraqi soldiers.
An
ISIS fighter believed to be Abu Al-Rahman poses triumphantly in one of
the pictures - giving the one-fingered salute in front of a bloodied
victim's corpse.
Scroll down for video
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Barbarity: Eight
men were found hanging from their feet in the Iraqi city of Hawija in
the militants' latest public display of death
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Gruesome: The
dead men were suspended from a tall structure in the same city that
Syrian soldiers were paraded through the streets in cages
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Hallmark of terror: The notorious black flag used by extremist Jihadi groups like ISIS hung above the deceased men
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Death: It is unknown whether the men were Iraqi soldiers, as ISIS' presence in the northern-Iraqi city grows
The same tyrant has been been pictured before alongside severed heads and masked ISIS fighters.
A shocking video released in February showed orange-clad captives being paraded in cages in the same city of Hawija.
Frenzied
crowds taunted the kidnapped men during the merciless procession which
echoed the terrible death suffered by captured Jordanian pilot Moaz
al-Kasasbeh.
He was also caged before a film of him being burned alive, implying the same fate would befall the trapped captives in Hawija.
It
was seen as revenge against the Kurdish forces who dragged the bodies
of ISIS fighters through the streets of northern-Iraq earlier that
month.
Previous
reports suggest he is an Iraqi national from the town of Almere and the
heads once belonged to members of the Syrian army whom the militants
captured and beheaded.
The extremist group has established a firm foothold in what was once an oil-rich Kurdish stronghold of Kirkuk.
ISIS
has been preparing a new base for its deadly operations in Hawija as
the United States train Iraqi troops for an invasion to retake Mosul,
the International Business Times reports.
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Terrorist: The man pictured posing alongside the suspended men is believed to be Abu Al-Rahman
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Islamic State: The same man has been previously been pictured alongside armed, masked fighters believed to belong to ISIS
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History of terror: Al-Rahman has also
been photographed giving the one-fingered ISIS salute in front of
several decapitated heads
Hawija is a predominantly Sunni Muslim town which lies off a major highway leading to Mosul and the capital Baghdad.
Since
ISIS first invaded the city in June 2014, it progressively conquered
neighbouring villages until it gained enough support from locals to
establish its new headquarters there.
Over the last nine months, its main base in Iraq has been in Iraq's second-largest city Mosul which it took over last year.
It
has offered Islamic State a military advantage due to its proximity to
the Syrian border, which allows them to smuggle both weapons and
soldiers.
But a US-led coalition has attacked the city with airstrikes for many months - targeting ISIS convoys and weapons stores.
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Trapped: A terrified Kurdish prisoner looks out from his cage at a mob of jeering militants in the horrific scene in Hawija
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Captives: Each prisoner was accompanied by a black-clad and flag-waving jihadi - some armed with AK-47s
The
Americans are now training over 20,000 Iraqi soldiers to retake the
city from Islamic State's deadly grip, US Cnetral Command has revealed.
Their
presence in Hawija gives the militants access to Anbar province and
another road leading to the Baiji oil refinery they lost to the Iraqi
military in November 2014.
Hawija has been a hotbed of violence April 2013 - two years after the US withdrew its troops from the country.
It
began when the government's forces raided a camp of rebels in the city
on April 24 and killed dozens of civilians in the process.
300 people had died as a result of the army's battle with militant groups in the region in the next three days alone.
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