ISIS Lines Up, Shoots, over 50 Men and Women

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria continued its reign of terror Friday, when ISIS lined up and shot over 50 people from a tribe in Anbar, supposedly in punishment for the tribe's attempt to resist the group. Dozens of men and women were lined up and gunned down by militants in the village of Ras al-Maa; only hours before, mass graves containing hundreds of bodies — believed to be from the town of Hit, where many of the murdered 50 came from — were found. Late Friday, in Ras al-Maa, a village in the Anbar province — of which ISIS has now taken over a large part — at least 50 tribesmen and women were made to stand in a line, and then shot, execution style, by the militants. This was, according to the BBC, in response to the tribes' attempts to resist the extremists. This is far from the first execution to be carried out by the terrorist group. "These killings are taking place almost on a daily basis now in the areas under the control of the Islamic State group and they will continue unless this terrorist group is stopped," Anbar councilman Faleh al-Issawi told the AP. According to a U.N. report released Saturday, over the last month alone, over 1,273 Iraqis — the majority of them civilians — have been killed in the violence.

Earlier this week, the international rights group Human Rights Watch revealed that ISIS had killed over 600 Iraqi prison inmates this summer, when they'd take over the city of Mosul. According to the group, hundreds of prisoners were forced onto their knees by the edge of a ravine. Then, the militants shot them using automatic weapons.

The U.S. State Department has condemned the terrorist group (you know, when it's not accidentally handing over weapons to it), emphasizing that ISIS' main aim is to entrench fear and divide the country's people. Said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki in a statement in response to Friday's killings:

The depravity of the reported executions of the Sunni tribesmen from the Albu Nimr tribe, and other Anbar tribes, reports of mass executions of Shiite prisoners in Mosul, the reports of a mass grave outside of Ramadi, and the continued persecution of other Iraqi minority groups, are further evidence of ISIL’s campaign of terror. One of the primary goals of ISIL is to sow fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people.

The ISIS threat is of course not limited to the Middle East. Over in the U.K., a general terror warning has been issued to all British travelers, warning them that they might be targeted in response for the British government's actions in the region. Said the Foreign Office said in a statement:

There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against U.K. interests and British nationals from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time.

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