Middle East

A Syrian opposition film-maker was gunned down in broad daylight in the Turkish city of Gazientep, apparently by Isis supporters. Friends said that Naji Jerf, 38, was shot twice in the head after being approached by an unknown car outside a restaurant. Jerf was a vocal critic of Isis, training citizen journalists from Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), an internationally praised media collective that exposes the terrorist group’s atrocities inside its de facto Syrian capital. The father-of-two was directing a film about that media effort, and also worked as editor-inchief of Hentah, a Syrian magazine that reports on the “daily lives of Syrian citizens”, according to its website. Another activist said Jerf had been due to travel to France, where he was believed to be seeking treatment for ill-health. This is the second time that suspected Isis members have targeted RBSS on Turkish soil. In October, another activist, Ibrahim Abdul Qader, was killed in the southern city of Urfa. Local village militia members have beheaded four Isis (Islamic State) fighters and placed their severed heads on the side of a main road in eastern Afghanistan, local officials say. The killings in Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar highlighted the increasingly brutal violence of the fight between Isis and rival groups, ranging from local militias to the Taliban.