Islamic State blamed for almost 2,000 executions in less than six months

The Islamic State (IS) militant group has murdered nearly 2,000 people in Syria - half of them from an important Sunni tribe - since announcing its "caliphate" on 28 June, a monitoring group has said.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said on Sunday that it has documented the execution by the Islamic State of 1,878 people in Syria.  Victims were shot dead, beheaded or stoned to death in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Hama, Homs, Hasakeh and Raqa.  Of those killed, 1,175 were civilians, including four children and eight women.  The dead include 930 members of the Shaitat tribe which rose up against IS in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor in summer.  IS also executed 502 Syrian soldiers and pro-regime militiamen, and 80 members of the rival al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.  The Observatory said that the jihadist group also killed around 120 of its own members, mostly for trying to flee to their home countries. It warns that the number of people killed is almost certainly higher since many more people are still missing or unaccounted for.  IS often videotapes its killings and posts footage on the Internet to sow fear among civilians and rival groups, as well as attract new recruits.  (Source: AsiaNews)