After major losses in Kirkuk, ISIS releases video of beheading Peshmerga captives

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Social media sites affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS) supporters released a video footage Wednesday evening that shows the beheading of several Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers by the group.

The video shows the gruesome beheading of seven Peshmerga soldiers who had been taken captive by the radical group in the last several months.

In the video one Peshmerga is seen reciting verses of the Koran under his breath as another is saying his final prayers of Shahada.

The footage appears in high quality and quiet background, which is likely to have been filmed and produced days before it surfaced on the Internet.

ISIS released the video shortly after it suffered heavy losses Wednesday morning at the hands of the Peshmerga who launched a major offensive west of Kirkuk.

The Kurdish military command said that they captured 140 square kilometeres in the offensive and killed at least 40 ISIS militants near Mount Batiwa.

Some of the Peshmerga slain by ISIS in the video were captured in January after the group targeted the Kurdish frontlines south of Kirkuk in a predawn attack.

Families of the Peshmerga prisoners said in July that they reached an understanding with local Sunni tribal leaders for a possible prisoner exchange between the Peshmerga ministry and the militants.

ISIS has beheaded other Peshmerga soldiers in the past including the execution of officer Hujam Surchi before a large crowd in Mosul in January.