A video has been released purporting to show a young boy executing a Christian prisoner in the name of Islam.
The footage released by Amaq, a news outlet linked to IS, shows a small child killing the man on a stretch of land in Borno as he warns other Christians “We won't stop until we take revenge for all the blood that was spilled.”
SITE Intelligence Group, an organisation that tracks the activity of extremist groups, posted a still from the video on its website on 18th January.
According to the Daily Mail, director of SITE Intelligence Group, Rita Katz, said of the video: “There is no end to ISIS's immorality.”
SITE believes the execution took place in Borno, north-eastern Nigeria and that the boy is from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terror organisation which is a splinter group of Boko Haram.
It is not uncommon for IS militants to use young children known as 'cubs of the Caliphate' to conduct their executions.
Nigeria is number twelve on religious freedom charity Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch list of the countries where Christians suffer the most extreme persecution.
According to the charity, Nigeria saw the highest number of Christians killed for their faith, with approximately 1,350 Christians killed in the past year.