The Islamic State executed 25 prisoners by lowering them into a massive vat of highly corrosive nitric acid, according to Iraqi news reports.
All 25 victims were executed on charges of spying in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the de facto ISIS capital in Iraq. The mass execution is the latest abhorrent method used by the terrorist group. Other executions include public beheadings, crucifixion, lighting caged prisoners on fire and running them over with tanks.
“ISIS terrorist members executed 25 persons in Mosul on charges of spying and collaborating with Iraqi security forces,” said a local source in a statement obtained by Iraqi News. “ISIS put the citizens in a large tub containing nitric acid inside one of its headquarters. ISIS members tied each person with a rope and lowered him in the tub, which contains nitric acid, till the victims organs dissolve.”
Footage or photographs of the execution are not publicly available, and hard evidence of such events coming from ISIS-held territory is particularly rare.
Nitric acid, one of the most potent commercially available acids, is generally utilized in heavy manufacturing and is particularly dangerous to the human body. When it comes in contact with the skin, nitric acid breaks down fats and proteins, leaving severe chemical burns and blisters. Exposure to stronger versions of the acid over long periods of time, such as the case in Mosul, can lead to death.
ISIS has become particularly violent in recent months in response to losing territory in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon believes approximately 30 to 35 percent of ISIS territory has been retaken in the two countries since Operation Inherent Resolve began.
Despite the loss of territory in its “parent tumor” in recent months, ISIS has established a foothold in various countries across the region including Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Afghanistan. The terrorist group has also attacked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, with over 140 civilians killed in the last week alone due to a series of bombings.
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