More than 100,000 Iraqis displaced in Mosul operation

Human Rights Watch has also accused the Iraq-backed militia Hashed Al Jabour of killing four men it captured in a village north of Mosul without any judicial proceedings.

BAGHDAD // More than 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of the massive operation to recapture Iraq’s second city Mosul, the International Organisation for Migration said on Sunday, as a rights group accused militia backed by the Iraqi government of killing killed suspected ISIL fighters captured during the operation.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the killings took place on November 29 near the village of Shayalat Al Imam, located some 70 kilometres south of Mosul.

Iraq launched the operation to retake Mosul – the last Iraqi city held by the ISIL extermist group – two months ago on October 17.

Since the battle began, 103,872 people have been displaced, the vast majority from Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, the IOM said.

Iraqi displacement and migration minister Jassem Mohammed Al Jaff said 118,000 people had been displaced since the operation started, a figure that includes those who fled the ISIL-held Hawijah area in another province.

Aid organisations had warned that a million or more people could be displaced by the Mosul operation, but those figures have yet to materialise.

Forces from Iraq’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service have advanced deep into eastern Mosul, and nearly half of that side of the city has been recaptured.

But forces on the southern front have stalled south of Mosul, and those north of the city have also not entered it so far.

West of Mosul, Iraqi paramilitaries aim to retake Tal Afar, located between the city and Syria, but have yet to launch an assault on the town itself.

According to a report published by HRW on Sunday, the Hashed Al Jabour militia, made up of Sunni tribal fighters, killed four men it had captured in a village north of Mosul in November.

The report cited witnesses who said the men were shot in the presence of Iraqi security forces without any judicial proceedings.

The militia is part of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, a group of mainly Shiite militias sanctioned by the government which have been accused of abuses during past campaigns against ISIL, a Sunni extremist group.

Iraqi government spokesman Saad Al Hadithi said authorities were unaware of the incident, but were committed to arresting and trying anyone suspected of human rights violations.

“Retaliations could happen in some areas by the locals [in the PMF] who had family members and relatives killed by Daesh before the entering of government security forces,” Mr Al Hadithi said. “Such acts are totally rejected by the Iraqi government and are fully investigated, and those behind it face trials.”

In comments broadcast on state television Saturday, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi said he had not received any complaints about the Popular Mobilisation Forces. He said the Mosul fight was “clean” and moving forward at a good pace.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press