According to reports, ISIS operatives killed two women this week in Syria by cutting their heads off—reportedly marking the first time they’ve killed female captives in such a manner (at least in Syria).

The beheadings apparently took place sometime this week in the eastern Deir al-Zor province, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. The violent attack was reportedly intended as punishment for the captives’ alleged crime: sorcery.

One of the women was beheaded along with her husband in Deir al-Zor city. In al-Mayadeen city to the south east, the group beheaded another woman and her husband. All of them were accused of sorcery, the monitor said.

“It is the first time that the beheading of women, by the use of sword in public, has taken place in Syria,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman tells Al Jazeera.

(It may not be though--according to Al Jazeera, ISIS operatives may have beheaded three other women last year in the border town of Kobane.)

Still, it’s been a violent week for captives in Syria—according to Reuters, ISIS also crucified at least five other men this week for the crime of eating during daylight hours during Ramadan. They were reportedly “hung up by their limbs on the city wall and children were encouraged to mock them as they suffered.”

Image via AP. Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com.