"Today, ISIS militants put strict checkpoints at the entrances of the city of Mosul for the families that were forcibly brought from the villages liberated by the joint security forces," Iraqi News quoted from Alsumaria News.
The news outlet added that "The [Daesh] detachments stripped the families of all private holdings, including of gold jewelry, money and cell phones," and, "Three elderly persons, including a woman, as well as a child died at the entrances of Mosul as a result of fatigue, tiredness and ill-treatment by the [Daesh] militants."
The violent jihadist group has forced hundreds of families into Mosul from their homes in rural areas and villages near the city, using them as human targets to keep joint security forces at bay.
United Nations human rights workers have been receiving reports of human rights violations by Daesh since the Iraqi government began retaking Mosul over a week ago. According to the BBC, 15 civilians were killed and had their bodies thrown into the river as a means to terrorize locals, and three children were killed after they fell behind while being forcibly marched from one village to the next.
It was also reported Sunday that the extremists had killed 50 former Iraqi policemen.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters on Tuesday that the reports had not yet been confirmed. "We very much fear that these will not be the last such reports we receive of such barbaric acts by [IS]," he said, "and 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 IS control, and treat all suspected IS fighters they capture in accordance with international humanitarian law."
Former Iraqi ambassador to the UN Feisal Istrabadi told Al Jazeera that the terrorists exploited the weakness of the Iraqi government to invade and seize control.
"What allowed ISIL to gain large traction in Iraq was the breakdown of the political order in Baghdad," he said, adding, "Leaderships throughout the country will have to make the necessary compromises and political bargains to dry out the swamp that allows ISIL to thrive."
