IS crucifies 17 men, throws 'gay' men off tower in 'unprecedented' spate of 'retaliatory' killings

The Islamic State (IS) has reportedly carried out an "unprecedented" string of public executions in a 48-hour period by crucifying 17 young men, throwing men, accused of being gay, off towers and stoning a woman charged with adultery.

Disturbing images of these executions started to appear on IS-affiliated social media accounts on Thursday last week and culminated in the killing of two blindfolded men who were pushed to their deaths from a height towards a watching crowd below, reported The Independent.

The images were attributed to the "Information Office of the mandate of Nineveh", a city in Iraq, and claimed to show IS militants carrying out "hudhud," a system of punishment for what the group's courts regard as serious crimes.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the recent spate of public killings came after the terror outfit suffered a series of assassinations and a major setback to its overall military advance across Iraq and Syria.

The monitoring group insisted that the crucifixion of 17 men in a span of 48 hours came as a direct retaliation to the deaths of 12 Syrian, Iraqi and Algerian jihadists. It added that the killings were IS' way of sending a message to people living under its control that said, "This is what will happen to any opponent.