Haruna Yukawa

The Islamic State (IS), a Sunni Islamist and extremist group, performed beheadings for capital punishment and propaganda purposes. The beheadings received significant worldwide media coverage and attracted widespread condemnation from both governments and Islamic leaders worldwide. IS beheadings peaked in 2014 and 2015—then concentrated in Iraq and the Levant—and steadily declined as the group lost its territories. However, the practice has persisted or appeared in other regions, most notably in Northern Mozambique.