MOSUL (Sputnik) — Islamists killed more than 30 civilians and left their bodies in the streets of Mosul to stop others from fleeing the northern Iraqi city under offensive by national forces, an Iraqi army colonel said Tuesday.
Some 180,000 civilians escaped western Mosul since Iraqi troops launched an offensive in February to reclaim the remaining part of the city from the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) group, outlawed in Russia and many other nations. Daesh militants are accused of preventing residents from fleeing to use them as human shields.
"Daesh [IS] terrorists left the bodies strewn across the streets to intimidate the others," Army Colonel Ahmed Jabouri told reporters in Mosul, adding all of the victims were men.
A sinkhole filled with possibly hundreds of bodies of captured Iraqi police officers and soldiers was discovered on the southern outskirts of Mosul earlier this year. It is believed to be one of the biggest mass graves found in the country during the war against Daesh.
