New footage reveals IS are now attaching HD cameras to their firearms to film their executions, creating the illusion of a first person shooter game.
Stills from the footage shows militants pointing handguns and rifles at the backs of the heads of their victims who are all on their knees, wearing blindfolds while a large group of men observe the scene, some smiling, and film the atrocities with camera phones.
Two more images appear to have been taken from the camera attached to the barrel of a rifle, one before the victim is shot and the other showing the man on the bloodstained ground.
In 2014, it was revealed that the IS had been using fake video games trailers as a recruitment tool: a video was released by the group in an attempt to attract young people by claiming that the actions taken by the extremists mirrored the violence exhibited in popular video game Grand Theft Auto – sales of which exceeded $31.8 million (£21 million) in January 2015 .
Marked with the IS flag in the top left hand corner, the footage in the video features characters shooting and killing a police officer and blowing up vehicles, with messages in Arabic appearing on screen which translate to: “Your games which are producing from you, we do the same actions in the battelfields!!!” (sic)
An editor of the Middle Eastern Branch of IGN, Mufaddal Fakruddin, told Al Arabiya News that this GTA-inspired trailer for IS is “clearly aimed” towards younger audiences, showing an “easy and consequence-free violence” that younger audiences might be “attracted” to.
Fakruddin further stated : “It’s ironic that they are using Western games to demonstrate their wrongly-guided hatred towards them.”
Image by AJ+ via Youtube