ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations and other organizations in the region are concerned about reports of mass transportation of villagers by ISIS in the midst of the Mosul offensive and their use as human shields.
Reports have surfaced about a number of villages where ISIS has either ordered their inhabitants to move out or transported them elsewhere. In some cases villagers have been executed and the fate of many is still unknown.
A number of Mosul civilians are said to have been forcefully moved from the east bank of the Tigris River to the west.
In one case alone, about 550 families from two villages of Samalia and Najafia, near the ISIS stronghold were forced to abandon their homes and move to Mosul. Some were taken there on trucks, others had to walk. The same has been reported about scores of inhabitants from other villages which ISIS fears will be recaptured by the Iraqi army.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein fears that ISIS is “using civilians in and around Mosul as human shields as the Iraqi forces advance, keeping civilians close to their offices or places where fighters are located, which may result in civilian casualties.”
Reports from Mosul indicate many of the transported civilians have been housed inside mosques and schools in Mosul while others are believed executed.
An Iraqi security source told CNN that 284 men and boys that ISIS had detained outside Mosul on Friday and Saturday, were killed and buried in a mass grave at College of Agriculture in the northern part of town. The report could not be independently confirmed.
UN’s children-organisation, UNICEF, told Rudaw it is concerned and “aware of unverified reports and videos from various media sources depicting ISIS killing groups of men and boys. If true, these acts may amount to war crimes.”
“These reports are examples of the extreme level of brutality to which the children of Iraq have been exposed and the conditions under which they have been forced to live”, UNICEF states, emphasizing that “even during conflict, children should at all times be treated humanely, no matter the circumstances.”
There are also reports of ISIS using civilians, and among them women and children, as human shield in villages in the line of fire of the current offensive. Families in Al-Hud village were shipped to Zuweiya village last week and put in buildings next to ISIS military centres.
The group has replaced the Al-Hud villagers with dozens of others brought over from 70 kilometers.
In some villages that were liberated by the Iraqi army which had then moved on to their next target, ISIS militants hiding in their tunnels had emerged once again and punished the villagers for welcoming the liberators. Survivors testified that dozens were killed.
The High Commission for the Human Rights also mentions a number of civilians who have been killed for revolting against ISIS as happened in at least one village south of Mosul, or because they were thought to be disloyal to the group.
High Commissioner Ra’ad Al Hussein warns especially about the fate of Yezidis still in ISIS captivity. “There is a grave danger that ISIS fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated.”
He said in a statement: “We know ISIL has no regard for human life, which is why it is incumbent upon the Iraqi Government to do its utmost to protect civilians.”
Reports from Mosul say that since the start of the Mosul battle ISIS has been taking boys from the age of nine from their homes and sent them to the front lines. The number of child recruitments is not known but the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga have reported many teenagers among hundreds of ISIS fighters killed in the past week.
Some other measures taken by the group in its fight have had deadly consequences for civilians. By setting on fire a chemical plant near Qayyara at least two civilians have died to so far and many treated for illnesses related to toxic sulfur.
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