IS Beheads Peshmerga Captive for Erbil-US Alliance

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A video posted by the Islamic State (IS) Thursday shows members of the radical Sunni group purportedly beheading a Kurdish Peshmarga fighter in the city of Mosul.

The video, which has been posted on YouTube, says the killing is a warning to the Kurdistan Region leaders to end their alliance with the United States, which has launched devastating airstrikes on jihadists, forcing them to pull back from Kurdish areas they had taken earlier this month.

In the footage, 14 other Peshmarga fighters are shown wearing orange prison suits, urging Kurdish leaders and Kurds in general to stand against their pact with the US against the Islamic State.

Three armed IS militants stand behind one alleged Kurdish Peshmerga captive near Mosul’s iconic mosque, one of them brandishing a knife as he threatens that the rest of the Kurdish fighters will die if the KRG-US alliance does not come to an end.

YouTube immediately removed the video from surfacing online, and has deleted several related videos uploaded so far.

One Peshmerga Hassan Mohamed Hashin, reads out instructions from IS militants in the video saying to Kurdish leaders, “You have made a big mistake by joining hands with America,”

The video appears to be another propaganda attempt by the IS, which is interpreted by some as a sign of the group’s recent defeat in areas around Mosul.

On Thursday morning Kurdish forces attacked IS militants near Zumar, capturing several villages, including Mount Batna, a strategic point overlooking Zumar.

Earlier this month, the IS beheaded American journalist James Foley and threatened to kill another American should the US continue its aerial strikes in Iraq.

The act brought international condemnation and promises of retaliation from Washington against the extremist group that rules large swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.