- Title: UN gets reports of massacres by Islamic State around Mosul
- Date: 25th October 2016
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) UNITED NATION ENTRANCE VARIOUS OF NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESMAN, RUPERT COLVILLE, SAYING: "We continue to receive reports of depredations, including extrajudicial killings and summary executions against children and women as well as male civilians, by ISIL as Iraqi government forces close in on Mosul. We also continue to receive information that reinforces the belief that ISIL are deliberately using civilians as human shields - forcing them to move to sites where ISIL fighters are based, or preventing them from leaving other places for strategic reasons." JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESMAN, RUPERT COLVILLE, SAYING: "Twentieth of October, Iraqi security forces reportedly discovered the bodies of 70 civilians inside houses in Tuloul Naser village which is located in the same sub-district, some 35 kilometres south of Mosul City. The bodies had bullet wounds, but it is not known for sure at this point who was responsible for the killings." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESMAN, RUPERT COLVILLE, SAYING: "Human rights staff in Iraq have been informed that ISIL killed 15 civilians in a village called Safina, which is around 45 kilometres south of Mosul City, and threw their bodies in the river, apparently in an attempt to spread terror among the other residents. On the afternoon of 19th of October, that is last Wednesday, in the same village ISIL reportedly tied six civilians to a vehicle by their hands and dragged them around the village." JOURNALISTS LISTENING JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS SPOKESMAN, RUPERT COLVILLE, SAYING: "And on Sunday (October 23), members of ISIL are reported to have killed 50 former Iraqi police officers they had been holding in a building outside Mosul City. We very much fear that these will not be the last such reports we receive of such barbaric acts by ISIL, and we repeat our call on government forces and their allies to ensure their fighters do not take revenge on any of the civilians who escape from areas under ISIL control." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS LISTENING UNITED NATION SIGN
- Embargoed: 9th November 2016 12:17
- Keywords: United Nations U.N. UN Iraq Mosul Islamic State actrocities
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Insurgencies
- Reuters ID: LVA00155I76TJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Islamic State fighters have reportedly massacred scores of people around its Iraq stronghold of Mosul in the past week, U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on Tuesday (October 25), citing preliminary information from sources in the area.
Colville told journalists at the U.N. in Geneva the body had received reports of "extrajudicial killings and summary executions against children and women as well as male civilians".
Islamic State or ISIL were using civilians as human shields, Colville said, according to information received.
Last Thursday (October 20) Iraqi security forces discovered the bodies of 70 civilians in houses in Tuloul Naser village south of Mosul, Colville said, adding, "The bodies had bullet wounds, but it is not known for sure at this point who was responsible for the killings."
In Safina village, about 45 km (30 miles) south of Mosul, 15 civilians were killed and their bodies thrown into the river in an attempt to spread fear, and six men, apparently relatives of a tribal leader fighting against IS, were tied to a vehicle and dragged around the village, the U.N. spokesman said.
On Sunday (October 23), IS reportedly killed 50 former police officers being held in a building outside Mosul, he said.
The sources of the information included civilians and established sources in northern Iraq that the U.N. had used in the past, Colville informed.
Some reports came from Iraqi government sources but also needed verification, he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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