IS using tens of thousands as human shields in Mosul, says UN

Geneva/Baghdad: IS forces in Iraq have abducted tens of thousands of men, women and children from areas around Mosul and are using them as "human shields" in strategic sites in the city as Iraqi troops advance, the UN human rights office said on Friday. The hardline militants killed at least 232 people on Wednesday, including 190 former Iraqi troops and 42 civilians who refused to obey their orders, it said. "ISIL's (IS) depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilians to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations, effectively using tens of thousands of women, men and children as human shields," said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Using human shields is prohibited under international law, he said in a statement. Earlier, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani cited "credible reports" that IS militants have forced "tens of thousands of people from their homes in sub-districts around Mosul and have forcibly relocated numbers of civilians inside the city itself" since the government assault began on October 17th. This was to "use them as human shields, to be able to keep them close to military installations...to try to frustrate the military operation against them," she told a briefing. Nearly 8,000 families, of roughly six people each, were abducted in four sub-districts including Shura, she said. "Many of those who refused to comply were shot on the spot". The reports, from people who have fled and aid groups, have been corroborated by the United Nations, Shamdasani said. Meanwhile, Iraqi militias said on Friday they would launch an offensive against IS west of Mosul imminently, a move which would block any retreat by the militants into Syria but is likely to alarm Iraq's northern neighbour Turkey. A spokesman for the paramilitary groups said the advance towards the IS-held town of Tal Afar, about 55 km (35 miles) west of Mosul, would start within "a few days or hours". If successful, the offensive would leave IS fighters encircled by an advancing coalition of forces which seeks to crush the hardline militants in their Iraq stronghold. Iraqi soldiers and security forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters, backed by US-led air strikes and support on the ground, already control Mosul's southern, eastern and northern flanks, and have advanced on those fronts for nearly two weeks. They have recaptured scores of villages on the flat plains east of Mosul and along the Tigris river to the south, but the battle for Mosul itself could be the most complex military operation in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. Ahmed Al Asadi, a spokesman for the forces known collectively as the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation, said the operation to cut off Mosul's western approaches was crucial to the battle against IS. "This is the most important and dangerous line because it connects Mosul to Raqqa and is the only supply line for Daesh (IS)," he told Iraqi state television. Raqqa is IS's bastion in Syria. Iraqi and military sources say there has been a debate about whether or not to close off the western route in and out of Mosul. Leaving it open would offer IS fighters a chance to retreat, potentially sparing civilians inside the city who might otherwise be trapped in a bloody fight to the finish. Some civilians fleeing Mosul have used the roads to the west to escape to Qamishli, in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria. Just as the advancing army and peshmerga forces have had to battle to recapture even small villages on the road to Mosul, facing waves of roadside bombings, sniper fire and suicide car bombs, Asadi suggested the advance on Tal Afar may take time. It will be launched from the Qayyara military base, about 90 km (55 miles) to the southeast. "Tal Afar is the final destination... it is the pyramid's peak. But there are villages in the way that need to be liberated before reaching Tal Afar," Asadi said. The Tal Afar offensive will target an area which is close to Turkey and home to a sizeable population of ethnic Turkmen, with historic cultural ties to Turkey. Turkey fears the use of the militias in the Mosul campaign will lead to sectarian strife in the region and exacerbate an expected exodus of refugees. Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week his country, which has troops deployed north of Mosul inside Iraqi territory, will take measures if there is an attack on Tal Afar. The population of Tal Afar was mix. Earlier announcements by the militias that they will be involved in the offensive on Mosul, IS's last major stronghold in Iraq, triggered warnings from human rights groups of sectarian violence in the province. The Popular Mobilisation forces, formed in 2014 to help halt IS's sweep through Iraq's northern and western provinces, officially report to the government of Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi. Amnesty International says that in previous campaigns, the militias have committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against civilians fleeing IS-held territory. The UNin July said it had a list of more than 640 men and boys reportedly abducted by a militia in Falluja, west of Baghdad, and about 50 others who were summarily executed or tortured to death. The government and the Popular Mobilisation forces say a limited number of violations had occurred and were investigated, but they deny abuses were widespread and systematic.