Islamic State militants burned an 80-year-old Christian woman alive in northern Iraq for failing to comply with their drastic interpretation of Sharia law, the independent BasNews agency reported.The punishment was carried out in the woman's village of Karamlish, 20 km southeast of Mosul, BasNews said late on Tuesday, citing Kurdistan Democratic Party representative Saed Mamuzini. "The woman was killed for failing to obey IS's strict laws," Mamuzini was quoted as telling BasNews. Karamlish is one of dozens of Assyrian Christian villages in the Nineveh plains surrounding Mosul which were partially overrun by IS in August last year, causing 200,000 people to flee.
Mosul and surrounding areas in northern Iraq have been under IS control since June last year and fighters from the Sunni extremist group have reportedly destroyed many Christian churches in the area. A 20-year-old woman was said to have been burned alive by the IS after refusing to perform an “extreme sex act”, the UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict Zainab Bangura told the Middle East Eye website last week. IS militants horrified the world in February when they released a video showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a metal cage.