via: Rudaw English
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – ISIS militants have reportedly abducted at least 295 former members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and forced 1,500 families to join them in their retreat from the town of Hamam Alil toward Mosul’s airport, the UN’s human rights spokesperson said.
People forcibly moving or abducted, it appears, are either intended to be used as human shields or – depending on their perceived affiliations – killed,” Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing at Geneva on Tuesday according to Reuters.
The 1,500 families were forced to leave their town by ISIS toward Mosul airport.
“The fate of these civilians is unknown for the moment,” Shamdasani said.
Hamam Ali was liberated by the Iraqi army on Saturday.
Shamdasani also said that the UN has information indicating that at least 30 sheikhs were killed in the Shingal region last week.
Also on Tuesday in Hamam Alil, the Iraqi army announced it had found a mass grave with the remains of 100 bodies, most of them decapitated. It is not clear who the victims were but preliminary video evidence released by Iraq’s federal police shows civilian clothes and personnel effects.
Shamdasani said she is not yet able to confirm this incident but did say the mass grave was in the same area where the UN reported that ISIS killed 50 police officers last month.
“This crime against humanity cannot be described in words,” said an Iraqi police officer in Tuesday’s video.
