Families who escaped the city of Raqqa recounted horrific scenes as young boys lost their arms or other parts of their bodies in sickening public amputations.

One mother said she and her three children looked on in horror as their neighbour, an 11-year-old boy who played with her youngsters, had his arm chopped off in front of a crowd.

She said the boy was an orphan who was punished for trying to sell a stolen car battery so he could buy food.

After being tipped off by a man who was offered the battery ISIS militants tied the boy down and cut off his arm.

She told Sky News : “They used a sword…they put a block of wood underneath his hand, put his hand on it and said this stole a car battery … they didn’t say he was an orphan.

“They said this hand has stolen and he had to be punished and they cut his hand off. We know him, he was our neighbour and he was an orphan.”

The mother, whose family has since fled to Turkey, her children have witnessed countless amputations and now have nightmares.

It’s one of many horrific tales told by people who have fled Raqqa, which was captured by ISIS in 2013 and has been its base since 2014.

The woman’s husband said he was jailed for three years and tortured after he was mistaken for another person as he travelled to Damascus to arrange for his family to flee Raqqa and the country.

After being released last month he said: “The people have changed. Their hearts are like stones. The city has changed. The houses were on the ground … destroyed.”

Another mother said she was pressured into “selling” her 14-year-old daughter so she could be married to a 29-year-old ISIS fighter.

She feared the militants and was tempted by an offer of $500 worth of gold.

But the family managed to escape before the marriage became official.

Source: www.mirror.co.uk