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UN Aware of Mass Executions of Civilians by Daesh Militants Near Mosul

© REUTERS / Stringer/FilesA fighter of Daesh holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, Iraq, in this June 23, 2014.
A fighter of Daesh  holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, Iraq, in this June 23, 2014. - Sputnik International
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Over the last six days the international human rights experts in Iraq have received several reports of killing of dozens of civilians, including women and children, in different villages near Mosul, according to Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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GENEVA (Sputnik) — The United Nations continues receiving reports of mass executions of civilians by Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) militants near the Iraqi city of Mosul, as well as of the use of civilians as human shields following the start of a military operation aimed at liberating the city, Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday

"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," Colville said at a briefing.

Colville noted that it was still hard to immediately verify all the reports and they should be treated as "preliminary and not definitive."

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According to the spokesman, over the last six days the international human rights experts in Iraq have received several reports of killing of dozens of civilians, including women and children, in different villages near Mosul.

"On Saturday, 22 October, ISIL fighters are reported to have shot dead three women and three children – all girls — and wounded a further four children from a village called Rufeila in the al-Qayyarah sub-district, which also lies to the south of Mosul," Colville said as an example.

On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of a military operation to retake Mosul from Daesh. According to local media, about 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are taking part in the operation, backed by airstrikes carried out by the US-led international coalition.

Iraq, along with neighboring Syria, has been suffering from the advance of Daesh, which is outlawed in Russia and the Untied States as well as in many other countries. The radical group has become notorious for its brutal acts of terrorism and human rights atrocities.

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