Baghdad (AFP) - An Islamic State group video released Tuesday showed the jihadists murdering 16 men by drowning them in a cage, decapitating them with explosives and firing a rocket-propelled grenade into a car.

The video, apparently shot in Iraq's Nineveh province, was one of the most brutal yet in a series released by the jihadists of killings of opponents in areas under IS control.

IS has executed hundreds of people by gunfire, dozens by beheading, stoned some to death, thrown others from buildings and burned a captured Jordanian pilot alive.

Videos of the killings are a key propaganda tool of the jihadists, used to shock and terrify their enemies as well as to draw in new recruits seeking the most brutal and active militant group.

The men killed in the latest video are said to be "spies", with some of them making recorded "confessions".

First, the militants lead four men to a car and close the doors, after which one fires a rocket-propelled grenade under the vehicle, setting it alight.

A militant is later shown locking five men inside a metal cage, which is then lifted by a crane and submerged in what appears to be a dirty swimming pool.

Two cameras affixed to the outside of the cage show the men's deaths in the murky water.

The last killings show a militant looping blue detonating cord around the necks of seven kneeling men, after which the explosives are set off and some of the men are decapitated.

IS spearheaded an offensive last June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, and also holds significant territory in neighbouring Syria.

Its military gains and atrocities drew a US-led coalition of countries to launch an air campaign against it last year, as well as to provide training and arms to Iraqi forces.

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City Finding Creative New Ways To Combat Invasive Species

A bizarre invasive worm with its mouth in the middle of its belly has been found in the United States for the first time, according to new research.

The New Guinea flatworm (Platydemus manokwari) is only a couple of millimeters thick but grows to be up to 2.5 inches (65 millimeters) long. As its name suggests, the worm is a New Guinea native, but it has been spreading across the globe, hitching rides on exotic plants and in soil. The worm wraps itself around snails and ingests them with a mouthlike structure on its underside. As an invasive species, it's a threat to native snails — so much so that the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it among the 100 worst invasive species in the world.

The flatworm had previously been detected in the wild in 15 countries, as well as in a greenhouse in France, but this is the first time it's been found in North America. A multinational group of researchers, led by scientists at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in France, combed through flatworm specimens and photographs collected by locals around the world. [See Photos of Bizarre Flatworm & Other Destructive Invasive Species]

Spreading threat

The researchers discovered P. manokwari in five countries and territories where it had never been reported before: New Caledonia, a small collection of islands in the southwest Pacific; Singapore; the Solomon Islands, also in the southwest Pacific; Puerto Rico; and Florida.

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A New Guinea flatworm discovered in Coral Gables, Florida. This is the first report of this invasive …

The introduction of the species appeared to be recent in many of these cases. The worm probably arrived in Florida in or around 2012, the researchers reported in the open-access journal PeerJ. Since then, it seems to have established itself and can now be found in multiple places in Miami-Dade County.

In Puerto Rico, the worm showed up in San Juan, the capital, in 2014. The first discovery of the worm in the Solomon Islands also occurred in 2014, on Guadalcanal.

Wormy genetics

The researchers also discovered two genetic groups, or haplotypes, of the worm. These two groups are virtually indistinguishable except on the level of their genetic codes. One, dubbed the "Australian haplotype," was found only in Australia and the Solomon Islands. The other, dubbed the "World haplotype," has been found in France, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Puerto Rico. The specimens found in Florida also belonged to this World haplotype.

The genetic findings suggest that both haplotypes of worm exist in their native New Guinea, but that for unknown reasons, only the World haplotype has spread significantly, the researchers wrote.

The discovery of the flatworm in the United States is particularly concerning because the flatworm had previously been confined mostly to small islands, they added. From Florida, however, P. manokwari could easily spread to the rest of the United States and the Americas.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook &Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Strange-looking worm invading the U.S.

PARIS (AP) — France summoned the U.S. ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and the French president held a high-level emergency meeting Wednesday following revelations by WikiLeaks that the U.S. National Security Agency had eavesdropped on the past three French presidents.

President Francois Hollande called the U.S. spying an "unacceptable" security breach.

The documents appear to capture top French officials in Paris between 2006 and 2012 talking candidly about Greece's economy, relations with Germany, and American spying on allies. While there were no huge surprises, the release of the documents late Tuesday angered and embarrassed French officialdom.

U.S. Ambassador Jane Hartley was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry, according to government spokesman Stephane Le Foll. Hollande is also sending France's top intelligence coordinator to the United States shortly, to ensure that promises made after earlier NSA spying revelations in 2013 and 2014 have been kept, Le Foll said.

Calling the spying "incomprehensible," Le Foll told reporters "France does not listen in on its allies."

The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment on the WikiLeaks revelations.

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En esta fotografía del 21 de agosto de 2013, un partidario de WikiLeaks protesta afuera de la embaja …

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price released a statement Tuesday evening saying the U.S. is "not targeting and will not target the communications of President Hollande." Price did not address claims that the U.S. had previously eavesdropped on Hollande or his predecessors, Nicolas Sarkozy or Jacques Chirac.

Hollande convened two emergency meetings Wednesday as a result of the disclosures: first with France's top security officials, then with leading legislators.

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Le Foll said "we reminded all the ministers to be vigilant in their conversations."

Two of the cables — dealing with then-President Sarkozy and his predecessor, Jacques Chirac — were marked "USA, AUS, CAN, GBR, NZL" suggesting that the material was meant to be shared with Britain, Canada and other members of the so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance.

The disclosures, which emerged late Tuesday in French daily newspaper Liberation and investigative website Mediapart, mean that France has joined Germany on the list of U.S. allies targeted by the NSA.

"This involves unacceptable acts that have already given rise to discussions between the United States and France," Hollande said in a statement after an emergency defense council meeting. The statement said France has reinforced protective measures, without elaborating.

The release appeared to be timed to coincide with a vote in the French Parliament on a bill allowing broad new surveillance powers, in particular to counter terrorist threats. The Senate approved it Tuesday and the lower house of parliament is expected to give it final approval Wednesday.

There was no instant confirmation on the accuracy of the documents, which covered intercepts from 2006-12. WikiLeaks, however, has a track record of publishing intelligence and diplomatic material.

An aide to Sarkozy told The Associated Press that the former president considers these methods unacceptable. There was no immediate comment from Chirac.

France is among several U.S. allies that rely heavily on American spying powers when trying to prevent terrorist and other threats.