Russian foreign fighter beheaded for spying: IS

The Islamic State group says it has beheaded a Russian agent who had infiltrated IS ranks as a fighter to spy on the militant group.

A gruesome video released late on Monday purports to show the man, described as a captain in a Russian intelligence department that spies on "terrorists." His name was only given in Arabic.

The video shows the alleged spy being interrogated by a masked man, at which point he says he was sent to Syria to spy on IS top military commander Omar al-Shishani who was killed last year in a US airstrike, and later, on his knees somewhere in the desert where he is killed by a Russian-speaking man. Thousands of fighters from the former Soviet Union have joined IS in Syria and Iraq.

In 2014, a video released by ISIS showed the beheading of US journalist James Foley and threatened the life of another American if President Barack Obama did not end military operations in Iraq. In the video posted on YouTube, Foley wasseen kneeling next to a man dressed in black. Foley read a message, presumably scripted by his captors, that his "real killer'' is America."I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope for freedom to see my family once again," he can be heard saying in the video. He was then shown being beheaded.