Human Rights Watch Says ISIS Fighters Execute Nearly 200 in Iraq's Tikrit


 Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah

 Jun 27, 2014

 The US-based rights group said Friday militants from the ISIL killed between 160 and 190 men in two locations in Tikrit between June 11 and June 14, Al-Alam reported.

“The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation,'' it said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) posted several photos online in mid-June posted on the group’s website show rows of men lying face down in trenches while their executioners blast away.

“The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation," Human Rights Watch Emergency Director Peter Bouckaert said in a statement.

The massacre happened in the town that spawned the brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein  who was ousted by U.S. forces in 2003 and hanged in 2006.

The ISIL and associated Sunni rebel forces have taken control of large territories in Iraq in two

week, plunging the country into crisis and increasingly splitting communities along sectarian lines

ISIS, an al Qaeda splinter group, wants to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, that would stretch from Iraq into northern Syria.

The Obama administration has proposed Congress on Thursday to authorize $500 million in direct U.S. military training and equipment for Syrian opposition fighters.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden announced on Thursday that the administration would seek the money that she said would build on "longstanding efforts" by the United States "to empower the moderate Syrian opposition."

"These funds would help defend the Syrian people, stabilize areas under opposition control, facilitate the provision of essential services, counter terrorist threats, and promote conditions for a negotiated settlement," she said.

The announcement came hours before the Syrian National Coalition, the opposition group afforded diplomatic status by the US, sacked the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army, its military wing, over corruption allegations.

Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz ordered on Thursday “all steps” be taken to safeguard kingdom from jihadists battling the government in neighbouring Iraq.

The call came days after militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized the border crossing from Iraq into Jordan, which also neighbours the kingdom, as they press an offensive in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia is one of several countries bordering Iraq, where the Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki is facing a growing Sunni insurgency spurred by what critics of the Iraqi leader say are his sectarian policies.

US Secretary of State, John Kerry [Unlink], announced that he will visit Saudi Arabia on Friday. During his visit, Kerry will meet with King Abdullah and the two will discuss the situations in Iraq and Syria.

Sources

aljazeera.

nydailynews.

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