ISIS extremists in Syria chop off man’s hand with cleaver in public

A balaclava-wearing terrorist positioned a cleaver on the man's wrist and struck down on the weapon with a large metal bar.

Baghdad

: ISIS terrorists blindfolded and dragged a man into the public square in the group’s stronghold city of Raqqa in Syria, and chopped off his hand with a cleaver even as a crowd looked on.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, after being dragged into the street, the man was forced into a seat while his arm was held to a wooden table.

A balaclava-wearing terrorist then positioned a cleaver on the man's wrist and struck down on the weapon with a large metal bar, cutting off the man’s hand above the elbow.

A baying crowd, which included children, watched as a man then rushed forth to bandage the thief’s stump of an arm.

It is not the first time ISIS have carried out public amputations in front of a cheering crowd. Similar pictures emerged of a man having his hand chopped off in early June in another Syrian city. In February, a man had his hand cut off in Raqqa in what was described as the 'implementation of the punishment of a thief from Raqqa city'.

ISIS uses scripture to justify its brutal punishments. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia and Iran also prescribe amputation of limbs for thievery.

The new images have emerged even as ISIS has claimed responsibility for a wave of terror attacks in Europe during the month of Ramadan and after. But the terror group has been fast losing territory to US-led coalition forces in Syria and Iraq over the last year. Therefore, IS are now encouraging volunteers to carry out lone-wolf attacks in Europe and America.

'If the tyrants close the door of migration in your faces, then open the door of jihad in theirs and turn their actions against them,' said an audio clip purportedly from spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani on Saturday.

Mosul in Iraq, and several areas of Syria still remain under ISIS control.