Muslim Syrian extremists cut off a man's hand as punishment for stealing

Several Jihadi accounts said the 'thief' had admitted his crimes 'and also asked that his hand be cut off to cleanse his sins'.
It was not immediately possible to verify the accounts, and the photographs and tweets have now been removed from Twitter.

A man dressed in a traditional white robe stands in front of the table, and on the right side is a man in a black balaclava holding a large sword.
A later photo showed the man with his hand severed, the limb resting on the bloodied table.

The Twitter account that posted the images has now been suspended from the social networking site.
The punishment was inflicted by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a pro-Al Qaeda Jihadist group that many fear is taking an iron grip over parts of Syria.
The group was formed in April 2013 and grew out of Al Qaeda's affiliate organisation in Iraq, but it was formally disowned by the central organisation on February 3 for being too extreme.


One of its leaders, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been deemed Middle East's most-wanted by the Iraqi interior ministry after a series of terrorist attacks which won him the moniker 'The Ghost'.
Born from ISI (Islamic State in Iraq), it fought U.S. troops in the country before the end of the Iraq war in 2011.
It has since become one of the main Jihadist groups fighting government forces in Syria and is mainly composed of foreign fighters.

Under a new set of brutal rules outlined by ISIS, they are banned from owning weapons and from selling pork or wine to Muslims or drinking wine in public.
Punishments will also be issued to those who renovate churches, display crosses or other religious symbols, ring church bells or pray in public.
It is believed ISIS is trying to implement an extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
The group has been operating independently of other Jihadist groups such as the Nusra Front and has had a tense relationship with other rebels in Syria.
In July, a commander of the FSA was reportedly shot dead by ISIS fighters in the coastal province of Lattakia.
There were also reports of deadly clashes between the two groups in the north-western province of Idlib.
Late last year, reports started to emerge of friction with other Islamists.
In November 2013, ISIS was accused of killing a prominent member of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham.
In the most recent sign of continuing tension, ISIS suffered losses in two days of fighting against an alliance of other rebel forces in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
More than 2,000 people are believed to have been killed since Western-backed and Islamist groups attacked ISIS-occupied cities at the start of this year.