Islamic State extremist 'executes' own mother in Syria

An extremist from the so-called Islamic State group has executed his mother in public in the Syrian city of Raqqa because she had encouraged him to leave the group.

She had reportedly warned her son that a US-backed alliance would wipe out the Islamic State group, encouraging him to leave the city with her.

The woman in her 40s was detained after he informed the group of her comments, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Reuters news agency said the 20-year-old man executed his mother on Wednesday near the post office building where she worked in front of hundreds of people in Raqqa, a main base of operations for the group in Syria.

The Islamic State group, which controls wide areas of Syria and Iraq, has murdered hundreds of people it has accused of working with its enemies or breaching its own version of  Islam.