Iraqi forces accused of killing civilians near Mosul

Iraqi federal police officers observe as air and ground strikes hit the town of Shura, some 30 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq. Marko Drobnjakovic/AP Photo

BAGHDAD // Iraqi government forces killed and tortured civilians south of Mosul, rights groups said on Thursday, the first such reports of alleged abuse in the US-backed campaign to retake the city from ISIL.

Amnesty International said “up to six” people were found dead last month in the Shura and Qayyara subdistricts who security forces suspected of ties to the extremist group.

“Men in federal police uniform have carried out multiple unlawful killings, apprehending and then deliberately killing in cold blood residents in villages south of Mosul,” said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty’s office in Beirut.

Its report described several incidents on or around October 21 in which groups of men were beaten with cables and rifle butts before being shot dead. In one case, a man’s head was cut off.

Amnesty said that, without accountability, the alleged abuses risked being repeated in other towns and villages as the Mosul offensive continues.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said at least 37 men suspected of being affiliated with ISIL had been detained by Iraqi and Kurdish forces from checkpoints, villages, screening centres and camps for displaced people around Mosul and Hawija, further south.

Relatives said they did not know where most of the men were being held and had not been able to contact any of them.

HRW warned that such conduct “significantly increases the risk of other violations”, including torture.

The interior ministry denied there had been any violations and said Iraqi forces respected human rights and international law.

The Kurdish regional government denied the HRW report, saying any delays in informing families were limited and due to limited resources.

“Nobody has been kept in unknown facilities. They are kept in identified facilities,” said Dindar Zebari, a government spokesman.

The Mosul operation, involving a 100,000-strong alliance of troops, security forces, Kurdish peshmerga and Shiite militias and backed by US-led air strikes, is in its fourth week but has gained just a small foothold in the city, which ISIL seized in June 2014 along with a third of Iraqi territory.

On Thursday, Iraqi security forces are preparing to advance towards Mosul airport on the city’s southern edge to increase pressure on ISIL militants fighting troops who breached their eastern defences.

The rapid response forces, who took the town of Hammam Al Alil, about 15km south of Mosul, on Monday, plan to resume their advance north up the western bank of the Tigris River within two days, officers said.

“We need to put wider pressure on the enemy in different areas,” said Maj Gen Thamer Al Husseini, commander of the elite police unit which is run by the interior ministry.

Lt Col Dhiya Mizhir, also from the rapid reaction force, said the target was an area overlooking Mosul airport, which has been rendered unusable by ISIL to prevent attackers using it as a staging post.

Forces advancing on the eastern side of the Tigris targeted two villages on Thursday on the edge of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud.

Troops from the Ninth Armoured Division took the village of Abbas Rajab, 4km east of Nimrud, and raised the Iraqi flag, the military said.

The Iraqi government says Nimrud was bulldozed last year as part of ISIL’s campaign to destroy symbols which the extremists consider idolatrous. It would be the first such site to be recaptured from ISIL.

* Reuters