Members of the terror group ISIS reportedly executed 11 Christian hostages in the African nation of Nigeria on Christmas Day.
On Wednesday a horrific video produced by ISIS’s media arm Amaq appeared online showing one man shot and another ten beheaded by a masked individual.
The executions were committed by the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), also known as Boko Haram, a Nigeria-based Islamic terrorist group. The group called the executions revenge for the killing of ISIS leaders earlier this year.
“We killed them as revenge for the killings of our leaders, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abul-Hasan Al-Muhajir in Iraq and Syria,” an ISWAP spokesman told local media.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in October during a raid by the U.S. army. Baghdadi blew himself up using a suicide vest during a firefight with U.S. troops.
Journalist Ahmad Salkida says that the executions followed failed negotiations with the Nigerian government, who ISWAP has been at war with since 2002.
“The decision to execute the captives was rather swift, abrupt and shocking,” Salkida said.
“ISWAP had reportedly opened a window of negotiations… to exchange the freedom of the captives with those of its members in government custody but the Nigerian government failed to take the offer.”
Despite losing its middle eastern empire, ISIS continues to pose a major threat around the world.
On Easter Sunday, ISIS launched a series of attacks on churches in Sri Lanka, claiming the lives of 359 people.
Experts suggest that ISIS will continue to operate around the world as the 30,000 foreign ISIS fighters will all eventually return to their home countries, including Canada.
At least 60 former ISIS fighters have returned to Canada. Despite some allegedly being involved in heinous crimes abroad, only four have been charged.
