ISIL moving ‘trucks full of abducted civilians’ to Mosul as shields against airstrikes – UN warns
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Friday that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) fighters have taken some 1,600 civilians to Mosul city in an attempt to shield themselves from airstrikes, and that nearly 400 women from Kurdish, Yezidi or Shi’a Muslim communities in Tal Afar are now being held captive.
Further reports stated that 180 people were killed on Wednesday in the town of Kokja in eastern Mosul and potentially an additional 200 in Mosul. OHCHR is working to verify the details.
ISIL has taken “trucks full of abducted civilians” from Hamam al-Alil to Tal Afar city. Some of the families were told that they would be going to Syria.
According to the source, since 17 October, ISIL militants have been forcibly recruiting children as young as nine and 10 to fight in Mosul.
Meanwhile, the OHCHR continues to receive reports of mass killings, including a report on Monday that ISIL killed 50 of its own militants in the Ghazlani military base in Mosul for alleged desertion.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Iraq Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) today recorded a total of 22,224 individuals displaced by fighting in the Mosul region that began on October 17.