Daesh on Sunday executed 12 university students in Iraq's northern city of Mosul for allegedly criticizing the extremist group online, local security official Ahmad al-Jabouri told Anadolu Agency.
According to al-Jabouri, the students were accused of creating pages on social-networking sites and writing anti-Daesh literature anonymously.
"The bodies of the 12 slain university students have since been brought in to Mosul's Institute of Forensic Medicine," he said.
In a related development, Mohaned al-Dulaimi, governor of the Anbar province's Hit district (located roughly 70 kilometers from provincial capital Ramadi), said U.S.-led coalition forces had bombed a strategic bridge held by Daesh.
According al-Dulaimi, five Daesh militants were killed in the attack on the bridge, which spans the Euphrates River.
Shortly afterward, he added, coalition forces had targeted a Daesh supply line linking Iraq's Fırat and Es-Sahra districts to the Hit district.
In June of last year, Daesh overran Mosul -- Iraq's second largest city -- before moving on to capture additional territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Over the last year, a U.S.-led coalition has carried out numerous airstrikes against Daesh targets in both countries, forcing the group to withdraw from some areas it had previously captured, although it remains in firm control of Mosul.
