Iraq condemns to death Russian jihadist captured in Mosul

Baghdad : An Iraqi court said on Tuesday it had sentenced to death a Russian captured in Mosul after finding him guilty of fighting for the Islamic State jihadist group.

The Central Criminal Court said that the man, whom it did not name, had admitted to carrying out attacks against the security forces since 2015.

He belonged to IS's Zarqawi Brigade, named after Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, who led Iraq's main jihadist organisation until his death in a US air strike in 2006, the court's spokesman, judge Abdel Settar Bayraqdar, said.

Iraqi forces detained hundreds of suspected jihadists during the nine-month operation to recapture the country's second city, which culminated in July. Many more were killed.

They included foreign fighters from a string of Arab and other countries, including Russia, which has faced insurgencies by Chechens and other Muslim groups in the North Caucasus.