UPDATED: Islamic State executes 21 civilians in Mosul, Kirkuk for helping police
Execution by drowning. Archival photo.
The militants drowned 13 civilians in central Mosul over charges of collaborating with security forces, a local source in Nineveh told Alsumaria News on Wednesday as the group braces for a decisive battle with government troops bent on recapturing the city.
“Daesh (Islamic State) today drowned 13 civilians to death inside metal cages in Dawasah, central Mosul, over charges of collaboration with government and Peshmerga forces,” the source told Alsumaria News, referring to Kurdistan region’s defense force.
The group filmed the execution, which was imposed following a verdict by the group’s so-called “legislative court”, said the source.
A similar execution style was adopted in Mosul’s Faisaliyah district with 14 civilians in August 2016 who were also found guilty of giving insider information to security.
Another source said the group executed eight for the same reason in Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, but did not specify the method of the execution.
Since it occupied large areas of Iraq in 2014 to establish a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”, Islamic State has posted footage of heinous executions of civilians, security personnel, and foreign workers over multiple charges, most commonly collaborating with security authorities as well as violating its extreme religious rules.
Islamic State remains in control over most of western Mosul, and government forces are awaiting orders to invade that area since they recaptured the eastern section on January 24th. It also remains strong in Kirkuk’s Hawija.
Islamic State’s reign of terror, as well as encounters with security, forced at least 191.000 civilians to flee to refugee camps, and the United Nations had predicted one million to be displaced in Mosul.