Foreign Affairs

ISIS Celebrates Islamic Holiday By Slaughtering Men And Boys Like Goats

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Islamic State celebrated a Muslim holiday by releasing a video of militants murdering at least 15 prisoners and hanging their bodies from meat hooks.

Titled “The Making of Illusion,” the video features prisoners in orange jumpsuits being killed by their masked captors. The prisoners included bound men and boys in a slaughterhouse who were systematically dragged one-by-one to a floor drain where their heads were cut off half-way. After the blood was drained from their bodies, the victims were hung upside down from meat hooks.

Warning: the pictures below feature graphic content

An ISIS executioner holds a bloody knife after slaughtering a prisoner. Source: Video Screenshot

Prior to the execution scenes, the video focuses on espionage, and splices in shots of the most recent “Mission Impossible” film. It accuses the the captives of engaging in “treason and espionage” against the so-called caliphate and shows dramatized scenes of the prisoners’ capture and interrogations. The executions are meant to be a sacrifice for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or “Sacrifice Feast,” which traditionally involves the slaughter of a goat or cow as an offering to Allah.

One of the masked executioners appears to be the infamous “Bulldozer of Fallujah,” a giant ISIS militant who is frequently featured in the terrorist group’s executions.

ISIS executioner hangs the bodies of prisoners on meat hooks. Source: Video Screenshot

Like most ISIS propaganda videos, “The Making of Illusion” features high-quality cinematography and graphics. Though ISIS has suffered serious territorial losses in Syria and Iraq since its last propaganda film, it has been able to engage in more traditional terrorist attacks and remains a significant threat world-wide.

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