A Monday video by militant group "State of Sinai" has claimed the killings of eight men and the further killing of two conscripts by gunshot. The video does not show the dates when the incidents happened however, with several decapitated bodies already having been found over the past month in North Sinai. Among the victims claimed by the group in these incidents were two civilians, Ayman Mohamed Salama and Abdelsalam Mohamed Hemdan. The two were kidnapped and found decapitated on 10 January in the North Sinai city of Sheikh Zuweid, with videos showcasing live footage of the decapitation processes. According to the group, the men were decapitated either for collaborating with the Egyptian army or Israeli intelligence. The video featured confessions of six of the slaughtered men before their deaths. This was not the first video released by the group showing confessions of alleged "armed forces informers". A video was released in December 2014 showing the execution of alleged army "agents" by firearms. The recent propaganda video begins by showing bodies allegedly killed by the armed forces during operations in North Sinai, which the group "swears" to avenge for. It then features two women and a man with their faces covered complaining about the destruction of houses in North Sinai. They were referring to the buffer zone currently being implemented in the Rafah area with the aim of destroying all smuggling tunnels leading in and out of Sinai. The video also claims the killings of two men, allegedly undercover conscripts, videotaped while getting into a truck with North Sinai licence plates. The video then shows the drive by shooting of the militants killing the conscripts. Zack Gold, a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, previously told Daily News Egypt that the killing of civilians in North Sinai "is a worrying development". He further noted that militants advertise these "alleged crimes to further intimidate the local population." The Sinai based group has claimed many recent and most deadly attacks in North Sinai, particularly in Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid and Arish. They target mainly security personnel and anyone cooperating with them. A large scale attack was launched on 29 January targeting several security facilities and leaving at least 30 security personnel dead. The group claimed having killed "hundreds" in a statement claiming the attack. The group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in November 2014 when it rebranded itself to "State of Sinai", instead of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. IS recently released a video allegedly featuring the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot, the first of its kind to show such an execution.
