ISIS executes 3 in Anbar
Rawa (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants executed three civilians in western Anbar for acting as informants for Iraqi security forces, security sources were quoted saying Tuesday.
A firing squad shot the trio dead before a public gathering near popular market in the western IS-held town of Rawa for collaborating with security troops, according to sources within the Baghdad Operations command.
The sources added that militants prevented local citizens from removing the dead corpses from the street, also threatening whoever uses a cell phone.
Since taking over several Iraqi cities in 2014 to proclaim a so-called “Islamic Caliphate,” Islamic State militants reportedly tortured and enslaved civilians at areas under its control for violating its extreme religious rules, and executed many for either acting as informants for security services or attempting to escape “the land of the Caliphate” as the common charge reads.
Anbar’s western regions have been under Islamic State control since the group’s emergence, and thousands of civilians are said to be held as potential human shields, according to local officials.
Fighter jets from Iraqi and the allied U.S.-led coalition have occasionally pounded the extremist group’s locations in the province. There has not been an official campaign to retake those regions, but it is believed the Iraqi government will turn to Anbar and other provinces hosting IS pockets once it is done expelling the militants from Mosul, IS’s largest bastion in Iraq.
Google Map at the link
ISIS kills civilians cheering for Iraqi troops
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants disguised as Iraqi police members killed welcoming civilians in western Mosul’s Old City, Iraqi military media said on Tuesday, repeating blame for the extremist group for civilian deaths during battles running in the city since October.
The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said Islamic State members dressed as Federal Police personnel opened fire Monday at a number of civilians in the Old City who cheered their arrival. It said the deaths, which took place at areas under IS control, included children and women.
The media outlet did not specify the number of casualties or the exact location of the incident, but Iraqi generals have accused IS of using civilians as human shields and fabricating reports about security forces’ involvement in civilian casualties, Last month, the Pentagon said it was going to investigate reports that its fighter jets killed more than 200 civilians in Mosul al-Jadida district.
Iraqi government troops, backed by a U.S.-led international military coalition, recaptured eastern Mosul in January, and launched another campaign in February to retake the western region. Iraqi commanders recently claimed the recapture of 70 percent of the western region, saying IS was only controlling less than seven percent of Iraqi territory.
Google Map at the link