by Rachel Ogbu

Editor’s Note: This video is extremely distressing. (Warning Graphic Content).

Franciscan Father Francois Murad, a Syrian Catholic priest was beheaded by  jihadist fighters on 23  June in Gassanieh, in northern Syria, the official Vatican news confirmed.

Fides News  Agency said: ‘According to local  sources, the  monastery where Fr. Murad was staying was attacked by militants  linked  to the jihadi group Jabhat al-Nusra.

In the video, filmed on a camera phone and  posted on LiveLeak, three men – including Father Francois – are  seen sitting on the dusty ground as a crowd around them cheers.

The priest, wearing a brown robe, is filmed  sitting cross-legged with his hands apparently bound.

He is pulled forward and laid face down on  the grass as the crowd chant ‘Allahu akbar’ and take photos.

He is then decapitated, using what looks like  a rudimentary kitchen knife.

Dozens of camera phones are shoved forward by  the baying crowd as the scene turns more bloody.

Fides News Agency says the  ‘circumstances of  the death are not fully understood’ but said his death has been confirmed by the  Custos of the Holy Land – the convent where Father  Francois had been staying.

Catholic.org writes Father  Francois had reportedly been accused of  collaborating with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Assad’s forces pounded Sunni Muslim  rebels  in the city of Homs with artillery and from the air on Sunday,  the second day  of their offensive in central Syria, activists said.

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Watch the video here: