Iraqi security denies 11.000 people missing in Nineveh

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s security media service has denied reports saying that 11.000 people who had been detained by Islamic State militants in Nineveh remain missing.

The Security Media Center said “some media outlets circulated fabricated, inaccurate news about the so-called missing people in Nineveh”. The center particularly criticized Saudi-owned al-Arabiya for quoting an officer from Nineveh police whose name, the center said, does not exist among personnel.

News reports have recently quoted the officer saying that Iraqi government forces, though having run into numerous graves of IS victims, have failed to find out the whereabouts of those particular 11.000 people.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State militants in December, ending three years of the militant’s occupation of a third of the country’s territories.

Nineveh’s Mosul, Islamic State’s birthplace, was recaptured by Iraqi forces in July 2017, after more than eight months of battles.

IS militants have massacred and thousands of Iraqis for contacting security forces and attempting to flee the group’s strongholds. The war against the group has displaced at least five million civilians.