Islamic State beheads Syria imam

Beirut: The Islamic State (IS) group on Thursday beheaded a Syrian imam, or mosque prayer leader, a monitoring group said.

"The IS executed the imam of a mosque from the village of Abu Khuyut near Hasakeh city (in northeastern Syria) at dawn Thursday,"said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based Observatory added that three of the man's sons were IS fighters.

The IS carries out near-daily executions in the territories of Syria and Iraq that it controls.

Originating in Iraq, it appeared in Syria's civil war in spring 2013, and has since committed some of the conflict's worst abuses.