BREAKING NEWS

Iraq forces accused of killing, torturing civilians south of Mosul

BAGHDAD - Iraqi government forces killed and tortured civilians south of Mosul, rights groups said on Thursday, in the first such reports of alleged abuse in a US-backed campaign to retake the city from Islamic State.
Amnesty International said up to six people were found dead last month in the Shura and Qayyara sub-districts who security forces suspected of ties to the ultra-hardline jihadist group which seized a third of Iraqi territory in 2014.
"Men in federal police uniform have carried out multiple unlawful killings, apprehending and then deliberately killing in cold blood residents in villages south of Mosul," said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for research at Amnesty's Beirut office.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi denied the Amnesty report, saying local residents, not government forces, had killed Islamic State members.