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After the liberation of Mosul - a Guardian story
Two or three nights later, when the commander was perched on a sofa in the requisitioned civilian house they were using, playing with his phone, a group of civilians entered the room, pushing a man in front of them. They forced him to kneel, his hands tied in front of him with a piece of cloth ripped from his colourless shirt. The locals sat around him, shouting that he was a former Isis executioner."Remember when you stood in the middle of that roundabout and killed three men?" said one. "He’s been working with jihadis since 2005," said another. The man looked up, confused, and mumbled that it was his brother who had joined Isis, not him. The commander handed the man’s ID card to a soldier to be burned, to disappear him from official records, and nodded. Kifah, the lean soldier, joyfully dragged the man out into the street. Other soldiers and officers followed, and locals cheered and celebrated. Kifah pushed the man ahead of him, while others kicked and punched the man to the ground, jeering and taunting him, dragged him up and kicked him again, laughing when he fell. "Sing one of the caliphate songs for us," Cpt Wissam said, laughing hysterically, his eyes blazing with rage. They made their prisoner run in front of them, telling him he was free to go. He ran, stumbling as he tried to pull his falling trousers up with his hands tied. They chased him, kicking and slapping. A soldier jumped in the air, and kicked him in the face with the theatrical relish of a professional kickboxer. He was dragged through an open drain, pulled into a dark side street and forced to kneel. The man stared blankly at the pile of rubbish in front of him, the powerful headlights of a truck lighting the scene. Behind him stood Kifah, stretching out an arm with an American pistol at the end of it. Another soldier stood behind him, filming on his mobile phone. "This is to revenge all the martyrs killed by Daesh," said Kifah. A single shot rang out, echoing in the deserted street. Blood squirted from the man’s head and he fell on his side. Kifah flipped him on his back with his feet, looked at him and walked away. "Maybe we should check he’s really dead," said the soldier who was filming. "If he survived that bullet then he deserves to live," said Kifah. Posted by: 3dc 2017-11-21 |
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