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Militants behead Muslim cleric in Syria

30 March 2013 18:54 (UTC +04:00)

The militants reportedly decapitated Sheikh Hasan Saif al-Deen before dragging his lifeless body on the streets.

They also hung the sheikh’s head atop the minaret of the mosque where he used to preach.

Local media blamed the gruesome assassination on al-Qaeda-linked group, al-Nusra Front.

Sheikh Saif al-Deen purportedly had anti-militant views and spoke out against the ongoing war against the Syrian government.

He is the latest cleric to have been killed by armed groups in Syria in recent months.

Earlier this month, prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti was murdered along with 49 others at a mosque in the capital, Damascus.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

Several international human rights organizations have accused foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes.