Daesh executes five Egyptians accused of aiding army

Egyptian army special forces are seen on duty at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport in the Sinai Peninsula on November 11, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Daesh, which is mainly active in Iraq and Syria, claims to have executed five men accused of assisting the Egyptian army which is battling the Takfiri group in the country’s restive Sinai Province.

In a series of photos released on the messaging application of Telegram, five men introduced as army "elements" are seen lying face down on the ground before a militant shoots them in the back of their heads with a rifle.

The location of the shot video, reported by US-based the SITE Intelligence Group that tracks terrorists' online activities, is not specified and still remains undisclosed.

The killings seem to have occurred after the Egyptian army announced Friday that it had killed "500 terrorists" since the start of a wide-ranging security operation in Sinai in September 2015.

Militants have slain hundreds of soldiers and police officers in the sparsely-populated Sinai Peninsula over the past several years.

Daesh has been active in the region through its so-called Velayat Sinai offshoot, which killed a high-ranking Egyptian police officer, named as Colonel Hassan Ahmad Rashad, back in July 2016.

Such attacks have increased since the 2013 ouster by the military of Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

A file photo of Daesh terrorists

Egypt’s military launched a large-scale security operation against Daesh positions in Sinai in September 2015, following coordinated terrorist attacks on several army checkpoints that claimed the lives of 21 soldiers in July that year.

Militants from the Velayat Sinai Takfiri group, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, mainly targeting the army and police.

In November 2014, the group pledged allegiance to the Daesh terrorist group, which is wreaking havoc in Iraq, Syria and much closer in Libya.