ISIS stone gay men to death - after executioner hugs and forgives the condemned for their 'crime'

A blindfolded prisoner is taken into a tender embrace by another man, who smiles as he gently speaks something into his ear.

Seconds later the prisoner is pummeled to death with rocks by the grinning executioner, helped in his sickening task by a crowd of bloodthirsty ISIS militants.

The man, clad in a leather jacket, was accused of being gay by the terror group that has carved a swathe of terror across Syria and Iraq. Another man shared his fate.

The prisoner seems incredibly calm before his violent end - likely due to the powerful drugs ISIS killers often gives its victims before executions and dismemberments.

It was watched by a crowd of men who appeared to have travelled to the desert spot to witness the killing.

It is the latest barbaric murder committed by ISIS, which has been described as a 'death cult' by numerous world leaders.

The notoriously media-savvy organisation released the images on social media which were shared by ISIS supporters.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces killed hundreds of ISIS militants in the western city of Ramadi, slowly regaining some ground from the militant group, security and local officials said today.

The insurgents began encroaching on Ramadi two weeks ago and local officials warned it was about to fall, sending more than 100,000 people fleeing their homes in and around the provincial capital of Anbar.

Security officials said Islamic State were being pushed back from sections near the military's Anbar operation command but booby-traps, snipers and suicide attacks were hindering government troops from recapturing other areas they lost last week.

"We're engaged in tough guerrilla warfare in Ramadi," said an Iraqi security officer whose unit is fighting in Ramadi.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said the militants had dug tunnels between houses so they could carry out hit and run attacks.

Anbar provincial council member Falih al-Essawi said security forces were taking their time in advancing to avoid exposing themselves to sniper fire.

A spokesman for Iraq's counterterrorism forces, which are taking a lead role in the battle, told Reuters the troops had managed to recapture positions near the city centre but were still fighting to drive the militants from the city.

"Our main goal is to drive Isis terrorists away from residential parts of the city towards open areas to make them an easy target for our forces," Sabah al-Noamani said.

The insurgents suffered a major defeat this month when Iraqi troops and Shi'ite paramilitaries expelled them from the city of Tikrit, but showed they could still strike by attacking Ramadi and Iraq's largest refinery in the north.

Iraqi forces regained control over most of the Baiji refinery at the weekend, but the militants made an incursion into the northern part of the sprawling complex late on Tuesday and briefly took over a key installation.

"We managed to repel the Isis attack and drive them out of one of the installations this morning, but they still have a foothold near the southern gate of the refinery, and we need more reinforcements to take them out," said a police colonel by telephone from inside the complex.

In a separate incident, a car bomb blast killed seven people and wounded 13 in Baghdad's northern Talbiya neighborhood, police and medical sources said.