Mass grave unearthed in Fallujah

Iraqi forces uncovered the grave in Fallujah’s northwestern suburb of Saqalawiya on Sunday, a day after the government said it had recaptured the largely agricultural area f-rom Islamic State. “Most of the remains belonged to military personnel who were detained and killed by the organisation (ISIS),” said one military official on condition of anonymity.

Saqalawiya and Fallujah were among the first areas seized by Islamic State in western Iraq in early 2014.

Six months later, the radical Sunni group stormed through Sunni areas of northern Iraq, taking the country’s second-largest city, Mosul.

Two weeks ago, government troops, backed by allied Shi’ite militiamen and a US-led air alliance, started an onslaught to retake Fallujah, around 50 kilometres west of the capital Baghdad.

The forces on Sunday drove Islamic State fighters f-rom several southern suburbs of Fallujah, boosting their advance on the city, Yasser Khalaf, an army commander, said.

IRAQ TO PROBE ABUSES IN FALLUJAH OPERATION

The Iraqi government has also said it will investigate allegations of abuses by the security forces in the course of the operation to retake Fallujah, a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered the creation of a human rights committee to examine “any violation to the instructions on the protection of civilians”, Saad al-Hadithi said in a televised briefing.

He said Abadi had issued “strict orders” for prosecutions to take place in the event of any abuses.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, has issued guidelines intended as a form of code of conduct for forces fighting the Islamic State group and aimed at curbing abuses.

Officials including Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi have expressed concern over reports of abuses committed by the forces involved in the operation to recapture Fallujah.

Juburi spoke on Thursday of “information indicating that some violations were carried out by some members of the federal police and some volunteers against civilians”.

The statement did not provide details on the alleged abuses, but urged Abadi to “look into these acts and deal with them in a strict and expeditious way”.

ISIS SHOOTING CIVILIANS WHO FLEE

ISIS is shooting and killing civilians who try to flee Fallujah, a city besieged by Iraqi forces, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said.

“Reports f-rom families that NRC has been in touch with describe that civilians trying to cross the Euphrates River in order to flee the fighting are being targeted by armed opposition groups,” the organisation said in a statement.

NRC runs the camps in the town of Amriyat al-Fallujah to which most of the civilians who have fled areas around the besieged jihadist bastion are being housed.

“An unidentified number of civilians have been shot and killed trying to cross the river,” NRC said.

One of the only ways for civilians to try to leave the centre of Fallujah, which is littered with booby traps and roadside bombs, is to sneak out by river.

Most of those who have already reached camps lived in outlying areas and as many as 50,000 civilians are believed to remain in the centre of Fallujah, being used as human shields by ISIS.

“Our biggest fears are now tragically confirmed with civilians being directly targeted while trying to flee to safety,” NRC country director Nasr Muflahi said.

“This is the worst that we feared would happen to innocent men, women and children who have had to leave everything behind in order to save their lives,” he said.

The aid group said that around 18,000 civilians have reached displacement camps since Iraqi forces two weeks ago began an operation to retake Fallujah.