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                  UN: IS May Have Committed War Crimes in Iraq

   by VOA News

   Islamic State militants may have committed war crimes and crimes
   against humanity in Iraq, including genocide against the Yazidi
   minority, according to a new report released Thursday by the U.N human
   rights chief.

   The document submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council details
   killings, abductions, torture and other violations described by more
   than 100 witnesses and survivors from attacks that took place beginning
   in June of last year when the militants swept through large areas of
   Iraq.

   It calls for the U.N. Security Council to consider sending the
   situation in Iraq to the International Criminal Court, as well as for
   the Iraqi government to conduct public investigations of any alleged
   rights violations.

   The report also says there is some evidence that Iraqi forces and
   affiliated militia groups may have committed violations, including
   attacking civilians, looting, murder and torture.

   One particular focus is on the treatment of Yazidis, whom the Islamic
   State group besieged late last year in northern Iraq.

   The report says Islamic State fighters forced Yazidis to convert to
   Islam or face death, emptied entire villages and "abducted Yazidis on a
   mass scale." It says the militants seemed intent on eliminating the
   Yazidis entirely.

   It was the siege of Yazidis on Mount Sinjar in August that brought the
   first U.S. airstrikes targeting the Islamic State. That campaign has
   expanded to include a coalition of partners that have carried out a
   total of more than 2,800 airstrikes against the militants in Iraq and
   Syria.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/un-is-may-have-committed-war-crimes-i
   n-iraq/2686580.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/un-is-may-have-committed-war-crimes-in-iraq/2686580.html