Mosul still has a population of 1.5 million people, much more than any of the other cities captured by Islamic State two years ago in Iraq and neighboring Syria. The United Nations cited reports on Tuesday that Islamic State, which is also known as ISIL, is attempting to displace Hammam al-Alil's estimated population of 25,000 for use as human shields and protection against air and artillery strikes. GENEVA (Reuters) - Islamic State militants killed 40 former members of the Iraqi Security Forces near Mosul on Saturday and threw their bodies in the Tigris river, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Tuesday, citing reports from the field. The town, 15 km (9 miles) south of Mosul, had a pre-war population of 65,000, a local official said. Abdul Rahman al-Waggaa, a member of the Nineveh provincial council, told Reuters last week that most of the victims were former police and army members. The men were shot dead, he said, quoting the testimony of remaining residents of the villages and people displaced from the area. Most of the trucks, which were heading toward the Tal Afar district, turned back under pressure from patrolling aircraft, but some buses did reach Abu Saif, 15 km (10 miles) north of Hammam al-Alil, she said. A resident of Mosul's eastern Karama district, still under Islamic State control, said on Wednesday four people were killed in artillery fire and air strikes, and said he saw two partially destroyed houses. Faisal Hammed, 25, a police officer from Qayara, was on the road Sunday in a convoy of three trucks and two busses carrying 70 men, women and children from eight families. The militants told people in Mosul that they would help them, as fellow Muslims, to fight the government, but everything went wrong after they arrived, he said. Anyone who leaves his house risks his life.”

However, residents said the city was quieter than on Tuesday. All of the men were bearded



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A human rights watchdog says government-sanctioned tribal Sunni militia taking part in the military operation to retake the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul have carried out revenge attacks against men and boys in areas recently recaptured from the militants. Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty International's Beirut office, describes the violations as "crimes under international law" and adds that Iraqi authorities "must rein in the tribal militia fighters responsible and bring them to justice."
United Nations Human Rights Council spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani says ISIL militants killed 40 former Iraqi Security Forces members and threw their bodies in the Tigris river near Mosul on Saturday.