IS executes finance minister and Dutch deserters: Reports

The Islamic State group has executed its finance minister in Mosul for "treachery" and eight Dutch "deserters" in Raqqa, according to reports from Syria and Iraq.

According to reports on the Kurdish website Rudaw, IS on Monday killed 24 people including Ahmed Abdulsalam al-Obeidi, who controlled cash-flow in the "Mosul Wilayat" region of the so-called "caliphate".

"Obeidi was among the executed who were charged with treachery against the group," said Saeed Mamuzni, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK) official in Mosul.

Mamuzni added that 11 regional IS leaders, including a Sharia court judge, were imprisoned last week in Mosul on charges of “treason” upon the order of the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group's top leader.

In a separate report, the Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) group said that IS had killed eight Dutch origin fighters in Maadan, Raqqa, for attempted desertion and mutiny.

Tension has boiled in Raqqa in recent months between 75 Dutch militants - among them fighters of Moroccan origin - and IS intelligence operatives from Iraq, RBSS said.

Disagreements led to three Dutch fighters being arrested by Iraqi IS members, who beat one of them to death. An attempt to mend relations failed with the death of an intermediary, leading to the arrest and killing of eight Dutch members.

Dutch intelligence services said they were investigating the report of the Dutch citizens. MEE cannot independently verify the reports, which come amid rising discord inside IS.

According to another Kurdish news agency, IS executed a Tunisian and two Algerian members on Monday on charges of corruption in the city of al-Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor province.

The three men, who were reported to be members of IS's Islamic police force, were shot dead and their bodies crucified after being convicted by an IS court for receiving bribes, a local activist told ARA News.

IS has recently stepped up imprisoning and executing its own members, mostly on charges of treachery or attempted desertion.

Mosul's main bank was destroyed in a US air strike last year - leading to IS cutting the wages of fighters by half.

The US-led coalition against IS says the group's territory shrank 40 percent in Iraq and 20 percent in Syria last year.

It has lost Ramadi in Anbar after an offensive by Iraqi forces supported by US coalition air strikes.

The previous finance minister for IS in Mosul, Abu Salah, was killed in an air strike in December by the US-led anti-IS coalition.