ISIS militants are kidnapping thousands of people to use as human shields

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TULUL AL-NASIR, Iraq – Islamic State militants have rounded up villagers at gunpoint to use as human shields as they retreat toward their stronghold of Mosul, according to Iraqi military officers and people who escaped.

At least seven villages south of Mosul were almost completely emptied by the militants as they advanced last week, the military officials said.

Some villagers said they ran and hid in the desert to avoid being taken. Others were forced to walk toward Mosul and away from the advancing Iraqi forces, but later managed to flee. Those who refused were shot.

Villagers also described mass executions of former policemen and army officers as the militants became increasingly paranoid about spies and collaborators.

The mass kidnappings compound the fears about the plight of civilians as Iraqi forces advance on the northern city of Mosul. Humanitarian organizations have said they have grave concerns that civilians are at risk of being caught in crossfire, trapped between fighting or used as human shields.

Before the offensive for Mosul was launched, Iraqi officials estimated that as many as 1.8 million civilians were still in the city.

Holding civilian populations hostage is among the tactics the militants use to waylay advancing forces and complicate the U.S.-led airstrikes that support them.

When Iraqi security forces retook the village of Tulul al-Nasir last week, soldiers found that most of the homes were empty. Residents of the gray, cinderblock settlement about 40 miles south of Mosul had been ordered by the militants to walk about 15 miles north to Hamam al-Ali, a larger village that they still control.

“They told us on the loudspeakers that whoever stays will be killed,” said Mohammed Ali, 45. As he spoke, men crowded around him to list their family members who are missing.

More than 90 percent of the village of about 5,000 people was kidnapped, according to Iraqi army officer Col. Faisal Ali Abdellatif.

“When they retreat from every village, they take the civilians with them to use as human shields,” he said.

At her house in Tulul al-Nasir, Bushra Hussein recalled how two armed militants came to her house. “They said we had to gather on the road and that if they came back in 30 minutes and found us here, they’d kill us.”

She pushed her disabled 26-year-old son in his wheelchair, which after several days of walking had broken. Islamic State members allowed her to stay by the side of the road with him, where they remained until the security forces advanced. Her husband, three other sons, three daughters and grandchildren were all forced to move on with the militants, she said.

“Thousands of families have been taken,” she said. “No one wanted to go.”

For those who refused, the punishment was swift and brutal.

On the outskirts of the village, Moyad Atallah, 40, was attending a funeral for his three brothers, who were shot after protesting. Eight Islamic State fighters in pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns arrived at sundown to round them up, he said. One brother refused.

“They shot him just there,” said Atallah, pointing at the dust outside his home. When his two other brothers then fought back, they were both killed, too. The militants then took their money and the family car, and kidnapped another brother and said they would return. The rest of the family fled and hid in an abandoned house nearby.

Abdulrahim al-Shammiri, the chairman of the human rights committee in the Iraqi parliament, said that 190 civilians had been executed in Hamam al-Ali on Wednesday after being “kidnapped” from surrounding areas.

Those who escaped said that former police or army officers were separated from their families and executed.

“They killed 20 people in front of me,” said one 19-year-old from the village of Safina, who was held for three days in Hamam al-Ali before his family escaped at night, walking for days before reaching the Iraqi security forces.

The family was separated during their escape, and militants on motorbikes recaptured some of them while others watched from a ditch. The family declined to give their names because of concerns about the security of 30 relatives who are still missing.

“All of us were against them, but they dragged us with them, all the village,” said his aunt, whose husband, four sons and three daughters are missing.

Featured Image: AP


(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Loveday Morris

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