A woman and a man have been executed by Daesh in the Lybian city of Sirte, on charges of “witchcraft” and “spying,” respectively, AFP reports.
According to a Tripoli-based news agency, the group has been attempting to get control over ever larger swathes of the country’s territory since the fall of Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. The coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, was captured by Daesh in June, and its population has since been subjected to the group’s unrelenting violence.
The Moroccan woman, accused of witchcraft, was publicly beheaded, and the Palestinian man, an alleged spy, shot in the head.
These are only the latest in a series of executions and other punishments carried out by Daesh in the region, where it faces “strong resistance from the population as well as difficulties in building and maintaining local alliances,” a UN report has said.
Out of the two or three thousand Daesh fighters in Lybia, more than half are believed to be garrisoned in Sirte, which is located a mere 430 kilometers (260 miles) from the capital, Tripoli.
