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220 bodies found in separate mass graves in Iraq

The bodies of 220 members of an Iraqi Sunni tribe opposed to Islamic State have reportedly been f...
Newstalk
Newstalk

13.56 30 Oct 2014


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220 bodies found in separate m...

220 bodies found in separate mass graves in Iraq

Newstalk
Newstalk

13.56 30 Oct 2014


Share this article


The bodies of 220 members of an Iraqi Sunni tribe opposed to Islamic State have reportedly been found in two mass graves.

Some 150 men from the Albu Nimr tribe had been taken from their villages near Ramadi on Wednesday night and then killed, a security official said.

In a separate incident, 70 people from the same tribe were found dead in another mass grave near the city of Hit.

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They are believed to have been members of the police and an anti-IS militia called Sahwa, or Awakening, and were reportedly shot at close range.

A witness said: "Early this morning we found those corpses and we have been told by some Islamic State militants that 'those people are from Sahwa...and this is the punishment of anybody fighting Islamic State'."

Tribal sheikhs from Albu Nimr say both sets of victims were among more than 300 men aged between 18 and 55 seized by Sunni insurgent group Islamic State this week.

It comes as US forces staged 10 airstrikes on IS targets near the Syrian city of Kobani. US Central Command said the raids were among 12 in Syria carried out by its fighters and bombers.

They hit two small IS units and destroyed seven fighting positions and five buildings, Central Command said.

An Islamic State headquarters building near Dayr Az Zawr and a security building near Ar Raqqah were also damaged in the raids.

US forces were joined by allies in a separate operation in Iraq that targeted a small IS unit near Bayji and a checkpoint west of Ramadi.

Report of mass killing of prison inmates

Meanwhile, an international rights group says IS militants carried out a mass killing of Iraqi prison inmates when they seized the country's second-largest city of Mosul in June.

Human Rights Watch said some 600 male Shiite inmates from Badoosh prison outside Mosul were forced to kneel along the edge of a nearby ravine and shot with automatic weapons.

The New York-based watchdog said in a statement the Shiite prisoners were separated from several hundred Sunnis and a small number of Christians, who were later set free. The information came from survivors.

Also in June, Islamic State claimed it had "executed" about 1,700 soldiers and military personnel captured from Camp Speicher outside Tikrit city.


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