Voice Of Post

IS Kurdish fighters, The Islamic State group has released a new online video purporting to show the beheadings of three Kurdish peshmerga fighters, with a warning that it will execute "dozens more" prisoners unless the Kurds halt their bombing attacks against the extremists.

The Kurds, supported by a U.S.-led coalition and by Iran, are fighting the extremists in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish northern region and Syria. They have driven back the extremists in Ninevah and Kirkuk provinces.

The opening scenes of the six-minute video, released at the start of the Persian new year, show people allegedly injured by peshmerga rocket fire. Then, the focus shifts to three men clad in orange jumpsuits with their hands bound. Later, they appear individually, kneeling before being beheaded by Kurdish-speaking militants dressed in black.

"To the Muslim Kurdish people: Know that our war is not with you, rather it is with those who ventured into an alliance with the Safavids and crusaders to wage war on the Muslims," one militant says, using derogatory terms to refer to Iran and the coalition, according to the Reuters news agency.

Then, in a direct address to Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, another adds: "We warned you before that for every rocket you fire on those under the care of the Islamic State, you will kill one of your own prisoners with your own hands."

Earlier this week, Kurdish forces had struck at Islamic State inside Mosul, shelling there in retaliation for a militant attack on an Irbil market.

The video, which has not yet been authenticated, reportedly was shot in Ninevah province at the sites of bombing attacks against the Islamic State.

Last month, the Islamic State group had released a video it said showed at least a dozen peshmerga held in cages, Agence France-Presse reported.

More than 1,000 peshmerga have been killed while battling the Islamic State, Reuters said, noting that “several hundred Kurds” have joined forces with the extremists.

IS Kurdish fighters, The Islamic State group claimed to have beheaded three Iraqi Kurdish fighters in an online video and threatened to kill more unless the Kurds stop bombardment of jihadist-controlled areas.Peshmerga forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, backed by US-led air strikes, are battling IS in the country's north and have pushed the jihadists back in Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces.

The video starts with images of people being brought to a hospital and a voiceover saying that they were wounded by peshmerga rocket fire.

The three prisoners, dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands bound, are later shown kneeling one at a time with masked militants standing guard at locations said to have been hit by peshmerga fire, and are then beheaded.

People including young children are visible looking on in the background.

The video was said to have been filmed in Nineveh province, though the exact location was unclear, and there was no immediate confirmation from Kurdish authorities that the victims were peshmerga.

One militant addressed Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani, saying that with "every rocket you launch against the Muslims... you will kill one of your prisoners with your hands."

In February IS released a video purporting to show more than a dozen peshmerga hostages paraded in cages.

IS spearheaded a sweeping offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last year, and peshmerga forces moved into a swathe of disputed northern territory after federal security forces withdrew.

The jihadists have carried out numerous atrocities in areas they control ranging from public beheadings to enslavement and rape.