Eight rebel fighters have been crucified in Syria by the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) because they were considered too moderate, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on contacts on the ground in Syria, said the men were crucified on Saturday in Aleppo province. It added that their corpses were still on view.

The Observatory said clashes between rival Islamist groups in Syria had killed around 7,000 people since January, as militants from ISIL — which announced Sunday that it was changing its name to just the Islamic State — try to consolidate their grip on vast tracts of newly acquired territory.