5 alleged collaborators beheaded in Daesh-held Mosul

By Jamal al-Badrani

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - Five young men were executed by Daesh militants in the Daesh-held city of Mosul in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province for alleged collaboration with Iraqi security forces, an army source told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

"Daesh militants beheaded five young men in front of a crowd of people in central Mosul," Captain Qassim Juma, an intelligence officer in the Iraqi army’s Nineveh Operations Command, told Anadolu Agency.

Citing "information gleaned from sources inside the city via social media", Juma said the five men had been caught marking Daesh vehicles with a view to providing Iraqi forces -- backed by a U.S.-led air coalition -- with targets during an anticipated attack on the city.

In mid-2014, Daesh captured Mosul before overrunning large swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq. Recent months have seen the army -- backed by a 60-nation air coalition led by the U.S. -- retake much territory.

Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in control of several parts of the country, including Mosul, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to "liberate" by year’s end.