Iraqi troops advance on eastern Mosul1:14
Iraqi troops advance on eastern Mosul, continuing their assault on Islamic State?s last major stronghold, as the group?s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi releases an audio tape saying he is confident of victory. Ashraf Fahim reports.
An Iraqi boy who lost an eye in fighting between government forces and ISIS. The terror group is ordering parents to hand over boys as young as nine to fight. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images
ISLAMIC State militants have told parents to hand over boys aged nine and older in an apparent recruitment drive for child soldiers as they fight for their stronghold of Mosul.
IS has killed hundreds of people, including 50 deserters and 180 former Iraqi government employees, around Mosul, UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.
An Iraqi boy who was displaced from the village of Abu Shuwayhah, south of the jihadist-held Mosul, carries a white flag. The Islamic State is trying to recruit boys to fight. Picture: AFP/Ahmad Al-RubayeSource:AFP
They also transported 1600 people from the town of Hammam al-Alil to Tal Afar, possibly for use as human shields against air strikes, and told some they may be taken to Syria. They also took 150 families from Hammam al-Alil to Mosul on Wednesday.
Militants told residents of Hammam al-Alil that they must hand over their children, especially boys above the age of nine, she said.
An elderly displaced woman is helped as she arrives to the Hassan Sham camp, east of Mosul. Iraqi forces are fighting to gain control of the area from the Islamic State. Picture: AP Photo/Felipe DanaSource:AP
IS militants were holding nearly 400 Kurdish, Yazidi and Shia women in Tal Afar, and had possibly killed up to 200 people in Mosul city, she said. The UN also had reports of air strikes causing civilian deaths, including one on Wednesday evening that reportedly killed four women and injured 17 other civilians in the al Qudus neighbourhood in eastern Mosul.
Iraqi families flee the violence in eastern Mosul. Picture: AFP/Bulent KilicSource:AFP