"Six top ISIL security chiefs were executed in the town of Merkedeh while they were trying to escape to Deir Ezzur province," an informed source said.

The source also noted that the ISIL also executed two of its own Saudi militants in Merkedeh city.

There have been frequent reports that ISIL has executed fighters and civilians for attempting to flee its territory in Syria and Iraq, or for alleged spying.

In late September, the ISIL publicly executed a dozen of its member militants for attempting to desert their posts in the Syrian province of Raqqa.

"The ISIL military leadership has publicly beheaded 12 of its own militants for evacuating their posts at the battlefront in Eastern Syria without permission,” a Raqqa-based media activist said.

"The militants were executed on Tuesday evening in front of hundreds of people in Central Raqqa,” the source said.

In March, the ISIL publicly executed eight Dutch nationals, who had joined the group in 2015, for expressing opposition.

ISIL’s “sharia court” ordered the execution of the foreign militants in public.

The militants were arrested at a checkpoint while trying to escape Raqqa.

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