HRW: More than 300 Former Iraqi Policemen Executed by ISIL Near Mosul

Militants of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group killed at least 300 former Iraqi police officers and buried them southeast of Mosul, according to an international human rights organization.

“This is another piece of evidence of the horrific mass murder by ISIS of former law enforcement officers in and around Mosul,” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said as quoted in the watchdog’s statement.

According to HRW, citing witnesses, the execution of former officers captured by extremists took place late in October while the Iraqi Security Forces discovered the mass grave some 20 miles away from Mosul on November 7.

Mosul has been occupied by the ISIL since 2014. On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi launched the operation to retake the city. The campaign began with 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and thousands of Iraqi soldiers and paramilitary troops backed by the US-led anti-terrorist coalition.