IS abducts more than 200 near Mosul, retreats with thousands - U.N.

Record ID: 79595

  • Title: IS abducts more than 200 near Mosul, retreats with thousands - U.N.
  • Date: 8th November 2016
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (NOVEMBER 8, 2016) (REUTERS) UNITED NATION ENTRANCE WITH FLAGS U.N. SIGN AND FLAG VARIOUS OF U.N. NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESWOMAN, RAVINA SHAMDASANI, SAYING: "We have information that ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has allegedly abducted at least 295 former ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) personnel between the 1st and the 4th of November. 195 of these former ISF personnel, they were reportedly abducted in several villages in Tal Afar and at around midnight on the 3rd of November another one hundred former ISF officers were abducted from a village named Mawaly village which is about 20 kilometres west of Mosul." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESWOMAN, RAVINA SHAMDASANI, SAYING: "ISIL was still forcibly moving families. About 1,500 families from Hammam al Alil towards the Mosul airport, this is information that we have." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESWOMAN, RAVINA SHAMDASANI, SAYING: "We also have reports of further abductions that on the 2nd or the 3rd of November, ISIL allegedly abducted at least 30 sheikhs and this was in the Qayrawan sub-district of Sinjar district and they were also taken to an unknown location. Now, one report suggests that 18 of them were killed on the 4th of November." NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS U.N. LOGO
  • Embargoed: 23rd November 2016 12:25
  • Keywords: Islamic State Mosul Iraqi Security Forces U.N.
  • Location: GENEVA, SWIZTERLAND
  • City: GENEVA, SWIZTERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Government/Politics,United Nations
  • Reuters ID: LVA00157L4XMV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Islamic State fighters abducted 295 former Iraqi Security Forces members near the militant stronghold of Mosul and also forced 1,500 families to retreat with them from Hammam al Alil town, the United Nations human rights organisation said on Tuesday (November 8).
    The abductions took place last week as Iraqi government forces, Kurdish peshmerga and Shi'ite militias backed by U.S.-led air strikes pushed an offensive to recapture Mosul from Islamic State.
    "We have information that ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has allegedly abducted at least 295 former ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) personnel between the 1st and the 4th of November. 195 of these former ISF personnel, they were reportedly abducted in several villages in Tal Afar and at around midnight on the 3rd of November another one hundred former ISF officers were abducted from a village named Mawaly village which is about 20 kilometers west of Mosul," U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.
    "ISIL was still forcibly moving families. About 1,500 families from Hammam al Alil towards the Mosul airport, this is information that we have," she added, saying the fate of the civilians is unknown.
    The United Nations also had information that at least 30 sheikhs were abducted in Sinjar district on Nov. 2 or Nov. 3 and taken to an unknown location. It was trying to verify a report that 18 of them had been killed on Nov. 4 in Tal Afar district, Shamdasani said.
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