ISIS abducts almost 300 near Mosul, retreats with thousands

ISIS fighters abducted295 former Iraqi Security Forces members near the militantstronghold of Mosul and also forced 1,500 families to retreatwith them from Hammam al Alil town, the United Nations humanrights organization said on Tuesday.

The abductions took place last week as Iraqi governmentforces, Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia militias backed byU.S.-led airstrikes pushed an offensive to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The fate of these civilians isunknownfor the moment.- UNHCHRspokeswoman RavinaShamdasani

"People forcibly moved or abducted, it appears, are eitherintended to be used as human shields or depending on theirperceived affiliations killed," said Ravina Shamdasani,spokeswoman for the UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights.

About 100 of the former ISF officers were taken at aroundmidnight on Nov. 3 from Mawaly village, which is about 20 kilometres west of Mosul. A further 195 were abducted between Nov. 1and Nov. 4 from villages in Tal Afar district.

The abducted families were being taken from their town toMosul airport, Shamdasani said

"The fate of these civilians is unknown for the moment," shetold a UN briefing in Geneva.

• Syrian Kurds start offensive to retakeRaqqafrom ISIS
• ISIS launches counterattacks inMosulas battle moves further into city

The United Nations also had information that at least 30sheikhs were abducted in Sinjar district on Nov. 2 or Nov. 3 andtaken to an unknown location. It was trying to verify a reportthat 18 of them had been killed on Nov. 4 in Tal Afar district,Shamdasani said.

The operation against the ISIS stronghold in Iraq hasentered its fourth week and Iraqi forces have so far gained justa small foothold in Mosul.

The UN human rights office has sources on the ground butthe information they are able to provide is "patchy,"Shamdasanisaid.

TargetingTal Afar

A coalition of mainly Shia Iraqi militias advancing on TalAfar plans to seize a nearby military air base from thejihadists, the first time the Iran-backed forces have targetedsuch a base, militia officials said on Tuesday.

The Hashid Shaabiparamilitary forcesare deployed in the arid region west of Mosul as part of a widermilitary campaign to retake the city.

Tal Afarand its air baseare located on thehighway west of Mosul. Capturing them would help cut ISIS supply lines between Mosul and its Syrian territories, It would alsooffer a base for the Hashid's stated plan ultimately to takeits battle with ISIS into Syria.

Capturing an air base would also point to the growing muscleof the Hashid forces, which officially report to the Shia-ledgovernment of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi but are also backedby Tehran and often fly the banners of Iran's Supreme Leader.

"Now we are 25 kilometresfrom the Tal Afar air base,"said Kareem Alewi, a commander of one of Hashid Shaabi brigadesand a member of the Badr Organization, the most powerful forcewithin the paramilitary alliance.

Mass grave investigated

Also on TuesdayIraqi investigators probeda mass grave that was discovered the previous day by troops advancing further into ISIS-held territory near Mosul.

The chilling find was the latest instance of mass graves being uncovered on ground wrested from ISIS militants. In Iraq and Syria so far, the group has killed thousands of people in extrajudicial killings, the graves a dark testimony to its brutality.

Associated Press footage from the site shows bones and decomposed bodies among scraps of clothing and plastic bags dug out of the ground by a bulldozer after Iraqi troops noticed the strong smell while advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil on Monday.

• Iraqi military finds 100 decapitated skeletons east of Mosul

"Investigators flew in this morning and are on their way to the grave to conduct examinations and determine the cause of death," said Cabinet official Haider Majeed, in charge of mass grave investigations.

The first officials at the site said the grave, behind an earthen embankment near an agricultural college, likely holds about 100 bodies, many of them decapitated. The town lies some 30 kilometers from Mosul.

It was unclear who the victims were, but a soldier at the site pulled a child's stuffed animal from the scraps of clothing and rotting flesh, swarming with flies.

ISIS militants have carried out a series of massacres since seizing large swaths of southern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photos and videos circulated online.