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| 5,500 Iraqis Killed Since Islamic State Began Its Military Drive, U.N. Says | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| GENEVA — More than 5,500 people have been killed in Iraq since an offensive by the Islamic State militant group began in June, the United Nations reported on Thursday, including hundreds of minority Yazidis slaughtered in mass executions. The report takes particular note of the extremists’ campaign of physical and sexual violence against women and children, with accounts of women being captured and sold as sex slaves to Islamic State recruits, and children being used as soldiers. | |
| Those deaths represent more than half of the 9,343 civilians killed in Iraq from January through September, the United Nations said in a report by its Iraq mission and its Geneva human rights office, emphasizing that its figures were “absolute minimums.” The total casualty count for the year so far, including wounded, is at least 26,000. | |
| “This report is terrifying,” Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations special representative for Iraq, said in a statement. | “This report is terrifying,” Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations special representative for Iraq, said in a statement. |
| The accounts of atrocities were not limited to the Islamic State, a Sunni militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL. Iraqi government security forces and militias associated with them have also committed “gross violations” of international law, abducting civilians and hanging their bodies from lampposts in Baquba, summarily killing captured Islamic State fighters and launching airstrikes that resulted in “significant” civilian deaths and injuries, according to the report. | The accounts of atrocities were not limited to the Islamic State, a Sunni militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL. Iraqi government security forces and militias associated with them have also committed “gross violations” of international law, abducting civilians and hanging their bodies from lampposts in Baquba, summarily killing captured Islamic State fighters and launching airstrikes that resulted in “significant” civilian deaths and injuries, according to the report. |
| But as the Islamic State seeks to expand its control of parts of northern Iraq, its campaign of terror has shocked the world, officials said. | But as the Islamic State seeks to expand its control of parts of northern Iraq, its campaign of terror has shocked the world, officials said. |
| “The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity,” Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, said in a statement that urged the new Iraqi government to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to investigate whether such crimes had been committed. | “The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity,” Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, said in a statement that urged the new Iraqi government to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to investigate whether such crimes had been committed. |
| Drawing on the testimony of survivors and witnesses, the agencies report multiple mass killings by Islamic extremists. Spotlighting the almost random brutality of the Islamic State, the report notes that three Sunni women were executed after sentencing by an Islamic State-appointed court in Mosul on Sept. 5; 40 men were executed on the orders of the same court on Sept. 7; and two women were shot in the back of the head on Sept. 9. | Drawing on the testimony of survivors and witnesses, the agencies report multiple mass killings by Islamic extremists. Spotlighting the almost random brutality of the Islamic State, the report notes that three Sunni women were executed after sentencing by an Islamic State-appointed court in Mosul on Sept. 5; 40 men were executed on the orders of the same court on Sept. 7; and two women were shot in the back of the head on Sept. 9. |
| In addition to the killing of civilians, Islamic State gunmen have claimed responsibility for executing 1,500 soldiers and security forces at a military base captured in June, the United Nations said. The dead include 42 soldiers captured south of Tikrit in July and 18 police officers whose bodies were left by the roadside nearby, the report said. | In addition to the killing of civilians, Islamic State gunmen have claimed responsibility for executing 1,500 soldiers and security forces at a military base captured in June, the United Nations said. The dead include 42 soldiers captured south of Tikrit in July and 18 police officers whose bodies were left by the roadside nearby, the report said. |
| Witnesses also recounted numerous mass killings of Yazidis, including many who had refused to convert to Sunni Islam from their faith, which is linked to Zoroastrianism. As an example, the United Nations reported that in the village of Kocho on Aug. 15, Islamic State gunmen assembled all the males older than 10, drove them outside the village and shot them. In the Hardan area, witnesses said, 250 to 300 people were killed, including 10 who were beheaded, after the Islamic State had promised them safety in exchange for their weapons. | Witnesses also recounted numerous mass killings of Yazidis, including many who had refused to convert to Sunni Islam from their faith, which is linked to Zoroastrianism. As an example, the United Nations reported that in the village of Kocho on Aug. 15, Islamic State gunmen assembled all the males older than 10, drove them outside the village and shot them. In the Hardan area, witnesses said, 250 to 300 people were killed, including 10 who were beheaded, after the Islamic State had promised them safety in exchange for their weapons. |
| The militants have treated women particularly harshly, attacking and killing female doctors, lawyers and other professionals, the United Nations said. One victim was a doctor who had helped to organize a strike by female colleagues protesting the difficulty of working with their faces covered by veils. | The militants have treated women particularly harshly, attacking and killing female doctors, lawyers and other professionals, the United Nations said. One victim was a doctor who had helped to organize a strike by female colleagues protesting the difficulty of working with their faces covered by veils. |
| In early August, militants “herded” 450 to 500 women into the town of Tal Afar and later sent about 150 of them to Syria, where the Islamic State has a stronghold, to be given as a reward to Islamic State fighters or to be sold as sex slaves, the report said. | |
| The human rights monitors said they also received reports that the Islamic State had opened an office in Mosul to sell abducted women and girls who were assigned price tags for buyers, mostly local youths who were reportedly offered the women as an inducement to join the Islamic State. | |
| Indiscriminate air raids by government forces have resulted in scores of civilian deaths and many more injuries, according to the United Nations report, which details airstrikes in July and August. | |
| Armed groups supporting the government fired on worshipers at a Sunni mosque in August, with residents reporting between 34 and 68 people killed, the United Nations said. | Armed groups supporting the government fired on worshipers at a Sunni mosque in August, with residents reporting between 34 and 68 people killed, the United Nations said. |
| Mr. Mladenov noted that hundreds of other allegations concerning the killing of civilians were not included because they had not yet been sufficiently verified. “Iraqi leaders must act in unity to restore control over areas that have been taken over by ISIL and implement inclusive social, political and economic reforms,” he said. | Mr. Mladenov noted that hundreds of other allegations concerning the killing of civilians were not included because they had not yet been sufficiently verified. “Iraqi leaders must act in unity to restore control over areas that have been taken over by ISIL and implement inclusive social, political and economic reforms,” he said. |