Islamic State in Egypt has released a video showing a thief having his hand cut off to boast of it’s ‘eye for an eye’ attitude to crime and punishment.

In the photos, the alleged criminal was seen having his hand disinfected and secured in place with a rope, before an executioner chopped it off with a meat cleaver. At least two men hold the thief down, an executioner dressed in black uses a meat cleaver and a metal pole to cut the hand off

The pictures, released by the Egyptian faction of ISIS called Wilyat Sinai, emerged just hours after the group claimed to be behind an attack on six military checkpoints on the Sinai peninsula.

The images shows the moments before the man is punished, and sees him sat by a table in front of a small crowd and an ISIS leader speaking. It is not known if the man being punished is a member of the Islamic State or if he is simply subjected to the harsh Sharia law the terrorists practice.

The final image sees the thief having his stump wrapped in bandages by ISIS fighters in hospital scrubs. Egyptian security forces have been battling Islamist militants in northern Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel, for several years.

But the insurgency, led by Wilyat Sinai, has gained momentum since the Egyptian military ousted an elected Islamist president in 2013.