ISIL video purportedly shows killing of Russian spy

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Wednesday released a video purportedly showing the beheading of a man the armed group alleges was a Russian spy that its fighters captured last year, the SITE monitoring group reported.

The video shows the man sitting in an orange jumpsuit and giving details of his apparent recruitment by Russian intelligence services.

Then, in a different outdoor location, an ISIL fighter, who in Russian threatens Moscow with attacks, appears to cut the man's throat and sever his head.

The video appears to be the group’s first claim to be holding a Russian hostage. Moscow has not reported that any of its citizens are held by ISIL.

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

SITE said the video was from Raqqa province, ISIL's main stronghold in northern Syria.

Russia's security service, the FSB, declined to comment. There was no immediate comment from Russia's foreign ministry.

ISIL has beheaded an unknown number of hostages in numerous videos, both Western prisoners and people from the Middle East, including soldiers fighting against it and Muslims who reject its hardline version of Islam.

Reuters