A human rights watchdog has condemned videos circulating on social media purportedly showing Iraqi forces killing and beating men suspected of being Islamic State fighters in Mosul.
Two videos seen by The Associated Press were posted to Facebook earlier this week, a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared “total victory” in the city.
Iraqi government and military officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the AP.
This photo made from undated video posted online shows a man in an Iraqi Army uniform moments before shooting an unarmed man in Mosul (AP)
The authenticity of the videos could not be independently confirmed, but they were posted on Facebook pages that support the military and regularly post their announcements, though they do not claim to have any official link to the security forces.
In one of the videos, soldiers are seen shouting at, kicking and beating several men – apparently captured IS fighters – in a room.
One man’s shirt is splattered with fresh blood. Several are dragged out of the room.
Islamic State areas of control in Syria and Iraq (PA graphic)
“Is this one with Daesh or not?” one soldier is heard to say, using the Arabic acronym for IS and shouting at a man cowering in a corner.
The man is dragged outside, and the camera follows.
The soldiers carried the man to the edge of a high wall overlooking the Tigris River.
There, soldiers are shooting the bodies of two men who had already been thrown to the ground below.
Niqabs strewn the ground as west #Mosul women breathe a sigh of relief that they are out of the clutches of #ISIS pic.twitter.com/uYv9GhWQWh
— Belkis Wille (@belkiswille) March 12, 2017
The soldiers then throw the other man over the edge then fire bullets into his body as well.
In the background, other soldiers are seen opening fire on a fourth man sprawled on the ground.
Another video posted on Tuesday was titled: “Our heroes in the Iraqi Army 16th division executing the remnants of Daesh terrorists in Old Mosul.”
The images show a man in Iraqi army fatigues gunning down an unarmed man kneeling in front of a car.
The rounds fired raised a cloud of dust into the air.
The caption said the video was dedicated to the “families of the martyrs (of the Mosul operation)”.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Iraq researcher Belkis Wille said on Thursday that “these horrific reports of mistreatment and murder have been met by silence from Baghdad, only further fostering the feeling of impunity among armed forces in Mosul”.
Two other videos reported by HRW showed security forces beating and kicking suspects in custody.
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