Jihadists kill 40, try to use 25,000 civilians as shields

ISIS killed 40 former members of the Iraqi security forces near Mosul on Saturday and threw their bodies in the Tigris river, UN human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Tuesday, citing reports from the field.

ISIS also tried to transport about 25,000 civilians from Hammam al-Alil, a town south of Mosul, on dozens of trucks and minibuses during the hours of darkness early on Monday, probably for use as human shields in defence of ISIS positions, she said.

Most of the trucks, which were heading towards the Tal Afar district, turned back under pressure from patrolling aircraft, but some buses did reach Abu Saif, 15km north of Hammam al-Alil, she said.

“We have grave concerns for these and tens of thousands of other civilians who have reportedly been forcibly relocated by ISIS in the past two weeks,” she said. ISIS was putting people close to its offices and to installations in Mosul, she said.