Islamic State militants executes journalist in Iraq's Mosul

Baghdad: The Islamic State group has executed an Iraqi journalist in the northern city of Mosul on charges of spying, local officials and colleagues said on Saturday.

Jala al-Abadi was taken from his home with his phone and laptop on June 4 and executed on Wednesday by firing squad after being sentenced by an IS court.

A former senior security officer in the area and a medical source in Mosul confirmed the young journalist's death.

The father of two was born in 1988 and had worked as a cameraman for a local channel before IS took over Iraq's second city in June 2014.

He left his city then but, according to a someone who was close to the journalist, he returned to Mosul for personal reasons. He did not elaborate.

Abadi was arrested when he tried to leave again and charged by IS, which has run the city since June 10 last year, with "leaking information" about the jihadist group to the national press.

IS has executed several journalists in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province and the largest IS-held city in the "caliphate" the group proclaimed over parts of Iraq and Syria a year ago.

Mohammed al-Bayati, the head of the Nineveh Media Network, condemned the latest execution and urged the United Nations to support the families of murdered journalists.