Carrier bags, hugs… and machine guns: Latest batch of ISIS foreign recruits are all smiles as they are dropped off in Iraq before heading to terror camp

Exchanging hugs while unloading bags out of the car, they could be friends meeting up for a camping trip - were it not for their accompanying arsenal of machine guns.

They are instead believed to be the latest batch of foreign fighters who have left their homelands to join the Islamic State's horrific uprising in Iraq and Syria.

Pictured in secluded woodland, the new recruits appear to have been dropped off in the Iraqi stronghold of Fallujah, presumably to take their positions at a terror training base.

Images posted online show them taking equipment out the boot of a 4x4 vehicle while dressed causally in tracksuits and trainers. One is even holding a shopping bag.


New recruits: Pictures posted online appear to show the latest batch of foreign fighters who have travelled from their homelands to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State's bid to create a caliphate


Warm welcome: Pictured in secluded woodland, the new recruits appear to have been dropped off by ISIS militants in the Iraqi stronghold of Fallujah, presumably to take their positions at a nearby base

They are then seen carrying khaki ammunition vests, rucksacks and AK-47 automatic weapons to an unknown location.

The images, which appear to originate from ISIS's propaganda wing, were posted on Twitter by respected ISIS analyst Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar.

Under the photographs, Mr Lister comments: 'Jihadi tourism #ISIS photos shows "arrival" of new foreign fighters in #Fallujah #Iraq.'

MailOnline has not been able to independently verify the images.


Day trippers: Dressed casually in tracksuits and trainers, with one even carrying a shopping bag, the men take equipment out the boot of a 4x4

The Islamic State has reportedly relaxed its vetting of foreign fighters in recent weeks to boost the numbers fighting for their self-declared Caliphate stretching across northern Syria and Iraq.

In an effort to weed out spies, foreign fighters wanting to join the insurgency previously needed references from jihadist groups and a background check.

The change comes as more evidence emerges from the region that Islamic State are swelling their ranks with child soldiers radicalised at military bootcamps-cum-madrasas.

But ISIS remains brutally committed to preventing anyone even suspected of wanting to desert ranks from leaving the terror group.


Loaded up with ammunition vests, rucksacks and automatic weapons, the men head to an unknown location

Unwilling fighters were reportedly rounded up in Raqqa, the insurgency's de facto capital in Syria, and publicly executed for trying to escape back to their home countries, it was claimed last month.

A source told the International Business Times UK the executed men, who were mainly foreigners, were killed after 'the discovery of lies'.

It has not been possible to verify the claims.

ISIS seized the Anbar city of Fallujah, parts of Ramadi and large rural areas of Anbar early this year.

The loss of Fallujah - where American troops engaged in some of the heaviest fighting of the eight-year U.S.-led war in the country - foreshadowed the later loss of Mosul and much of northern Iraq.

Recent coalition air strikes have begun to turn the tide over the last few months, with the jihadists losing ground in Iraq and only able to hold on to their positions in Syria.

But the fear of causing civilian casualties has meant that ISIS strongholds in Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah have been spared much of the U.S.-led onslaught.


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With any luck, maybe these bearded clams will step on an IED- Then you can hang one on each side of a picture window, and call them 'Curt 'n Rod'-