Islamic State using hostages as human shields in Mosul - UN
Islamic State fighters have taken “tens of thousands” of men, women and children hostage in the city of Mosul, and executed at least 232 people on Wednesday (26/10/2016), according to the UN.
With Kurdish and Iraqi forces rapidly closing in on the city, Isis has shipped civilians from areas around Mosul into strategic areas. They are now being held as human shields, the UN’s human rights office said on Friday.
The militant group carried out a mass killing of people who refused to obey its orders, the UN added. Those executed included 190 former Iraqi security forces and 40 civilians, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing.
“Many of them who refused to comply were shot on the spot,” she said, citing reports corroborated by the UN that were “by no means comprehensive but indicative of violations”.
“Isis has been forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes in some districts around Mosul,” Shamdasani said.
News of the latest atrocity came as Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia paramilitary groups said they were about to launch a major offensive west of Mosul. A spokesman said an operation would soon begin to attack the Isis-held city of Tal Afar.
Tal Afar is close to Iraq’s border with Turkey and is home to a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population. Any advance on the city is likely to cause alarm in Ankara.
The militias, collectively known as Hashid Shaabi or Popular Mobilisation Forces, are camped out in Qayyara, south of the city. “A few days or hours separate us from the launch of operations there,” spokesman Ahmed al-Asadi told state TV.
The population of Tal Afar, about 35 miles (55km) west of Mosul, was previously a mix of Sunni and Shia ethnic Turkmens. Shias fled the town when Isis overran the region in 2014, declaring a caliphate over parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said on Wednesday his country, which has troops deployed north of Mosul inside Iraqi territory, would respond if there was an attack on Tal Afar.
Turkey fears the use of Shia militias in the US-backed military operation against Mosul will lead to sectarian strife in the mainly Sunni region and cause an exodus of refugees.
Meanwhile, residents in villages cleared of Isis by Kurdish peshmerga forces have been celebrating, according to Reuters. On Thursday, Kurdish fighters retook the Iraqi village of Fadiliya, as they advanced towards Mosul.
As the peshmerga moved through the streets and greeted villagers, there was no longer any sign of the jihadists, alive or dead. Their fear easing, local people began speaking openly for the first time about their two years under Islamic State occupation.
“If you are caught smoking you get whipped with a water hose 50 times in public,” Othman Mahmoud told Reuters, as his friend handed around a pack of cigarettes with a smile.
A teenager joined the gathering, describing a code imposed with ferocity on every aspect of personal life, right down to facial hair. “If you are caught growing sideburns you get whipped 25 times,” he said. “There were so many things we could not do.”
The battle for Iraq’s second city is expected to be the biggest since a US-led invasion of the country in 2003.
Several residents and a peshmerga commander said it took only about 50 militants to control Fadiliya, whose population once numbered 5,000 before many villagers fled, so pervasive was fear of the group.
Source: theguardian.com