MORE than a dozen bodies have been unearthed from a mass grave near the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, as a new UN report said Islamic State (IS) militants may have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during their rampage across the country.
The discovery and the report’s findings – detailing mass killings, torture and rape – raised fears that more atrocities could be uncovered as Iraqi security forces and Shia militias claw back territory from the extremist group.
Iraqi authorities in Salahuddin province unearthed 13 bodies in the district of al-Boajeel, where forces are engaged in a large-scale offensive against the militants.
Video footage shows police digging up bodies and loading them onto trucks in plastic bags.
A government official and a senior military official said an investigation is under way to identify the dead. They said the site is not believed to be linked to the mass killing last summer of captured Iraqi soldiers from Camp Speicher, a nearby military base.
Iraqi troops backed by Shia militias are currently in a holding position on the edges of Tikrit as they wait for any remaining civilians to leave before pushing toward the centre of the city.
IS captured Tikrit and Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, during its rapid advance across north and west in June. The extremists now rule a vast area straddling the Syria-Iraq border in which they have imposed a harsh version of Islamic law.
The UN report, published by the Human Rights Office, draws on the testimony of 100 people who survived attacks by the militant group in Iraq between June 2014 and last month.
“Clearly international war crimes and crimes against humanity and possibly genocide appear to have been committed during this conflict,” Hanny Megally, chief of the Middle East branch of the UN Human Rights Office said. The accounts detail killings, torture, rape and sexual slavery, forced religious conversions and the conscription of children.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here