IS video shows murder of 2 Syrian activists

The Islamic State group has released a new video purporting to show the killing of two Syrian activists in the militants' stronghold of Raqqa, allegedly for spying on the extremists.

IS has killed hundreds of people since it declared an Islamic caliphate in June last year with the city of Raqqa as its de facto capital.

The video, which was posted Monday on an IS-linked Facebook page, shows two young men in orange jumpsuits who say they filmed and photographed IS-held areas in Syria and sent footage to a person abroad.

They identify themselves as 21-year-old Faysal Hussein Habibi and 20-year-old Bishr Abdul-Azim. 

They are then tied to a tree, after which masked gunmen shoot them in the head at close range.

This follows the release of a video posted online n 4 July
purportedly showing Islamic State fighters killing 25 Syrian soldiers in the historic town of Palmyra in central Syria.

Scores of Syrian troops and state employees were killed in the days after Palmyra fell to IS.

The video showed the soldiers being taken in pickup trucks from the town's notorious Tadmur prison to the amphitheatre. At the theatre they were shot dead by young IS members armed with pistols. Hundreds of people were seen watching the killings.

The video did not indicate when the killings took place. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said these shootings took place on 27 May.

It was reported in May that scores of Syrian troops and state employees were murdered in the days after the town fell to IS on 22 May 2015.

Palmyra is a UNESCO world heritage site famous for its 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades, other ruins and priceless artifacts.

The capture of Palmyra has raised concern that the militants might try to destroy one of the Middle East's most spectacular archaeological sites — a well-preserved, Roman-era city on the town's edge — as they have destroyed other pre-Islamic ancient monuments elsewhere in Syria and Iraq.

On 2 July, IS said its militants had destroyed six archaeological pieces from Palmyra that were confiscated from a smuggler.

The shootings in the video took place inside the archaeological site and the troops, some of whom had bruises and blood on their faces apparently as a result of being beaten, were made to kneel in front of a giant IS black flag before being shot in the back of their heads.