The Islamic State (Isis) terrorists in Libya have beheaded a woman after accusing her of practising witchcraft, African newspapers have reported citing AFP.
The beheading reportedly took place on Monday in a public place in Sirte. The woman, who was a Moroccan national, was sentenced to death by beheading for "sorcery and black magic", Morocco World News reported.
Isis, which is also known as Daesh, executed a Palestinian national after accusing him of "espionage". He was shot dead, ENCA reported.
The recent reports have indicated that several Daesh fighters are relocating to Libya due to ongoing air attacks on Isis targets in Syria. Isis has been forced to move its forces to Sirte, where it plans to build another Islamic State capital similar to Raqqa, The Wall Street Journal had reported.
For Isis, Sirte is an important gain as since the assassination of former leader colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the ruler of Libya, there has been a power vaccum in the country, which now the Daesh can benefit from, according to Abayomi Azikiwe, the editor of Pan-African News Wire.
Earlier last month, according to New York Times, several Iraqi Isis commanders arrived in Libya to manage the country as one of the colony's under the Islamic State.
The increasing influence of Isis in Libya also has the Western intelligence agencies worried, who fear that Isis may be planning on using the country as a fall back option, if Raqqa falls.
"Libya is the affiliate that we're most worried about," Patrick Prior, the Defense Intelligence Agency's top counterterrorism analyst, said at a recent security conference in Washington. "It's the hub from which they project across all of North Africa," NYT reported.
