Iraqis should not carry out hurried or ad hoc exhumations of mass graves left by jihadists, as this makes identifying victims more difficult, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. Dozens of mass graves have been discovered in areas retaken from the Islamic State jihadist group, whose rule in Iraq and Syria has been marked by widespread … Read more
The 68-nation US-led coalition against the Islamic State group will meet in Washington on Wednesday to accelerate efforts to destroy the remaining jihadist strongholds in Iraq and Syria. US President Donald Trump has ordered his generals to come up with an accelerated strategy to “eradicate” the group’s so-called caliphate, and allied ministers are keen to … Read more
A car bomb exploded in the Iraqi capital on Monday, killing at least 23 people and wounding 45 others in a mainly Shia district in southwestern Baghdad. The attack – as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC – targeted a busy commercial district of the Hay al-Amel suburb, according … Read more
Inside an armoured vehicle in Mosul, a colonel scans live footage from a drone flying above the Iraqi city, hunting targets for a new weapon deployed against jihadists. The Islamic State group has used small commercial drones to drop explosives on advancing Iraqi forces since they launched the offensive to retake Iraq’s second city in … Read more
Iraqi paramilitary forces announced Saturday that they had discovered a mass grave at Badush prison near Mosul containing the remains of hundreds of people executed by the Islamic State group. IS reportedly killed up to 600 people after seizing the jail in 2014, and was also said to have held hundreds of kidnapped women from … Read more
The luckiest of west Mosul’s residents under Islamic State group rule had tomato concentrate. Potatoes were an almost unheard-of luxury. In parts of Iraq’s war-torn second city seized this week by Iraqi forces, hundreds of residents queued up behind a government truck as they waited for their first proper meal in weeks. “We have been … Read more
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney on Thursday urged Iraq to agree to a UN investigation of atrocities committed by the Islamic State group and bring those responsible for crimes to justice. Clooney, who represents Yazidi women who escaped from IS enslavement, was addressing UN member-states for the second time in six months to appeal for … Read more
For two weeks, Yunis Mohammed and 17 relatives huddled terrified in the cellar of his west Mosul home as the Islamic State group fighters fought off advancing Iraqi forces outside. “The jihadists would knock on the door but we wouldn’t open,” the 39-year-old mechanic says, finally sitting under a tree in the sunlight after Iraqi … Read more