IS massacres 2,000 in Mosul, Iraq's VP says

The Islamic State group has murdered over 2,000 Mosul residents, Iraq's vice-president, Usama al-Nujaifi has alleged.

This would make it the worst massacres carried out by the extremist group since it captured Mosul and much of northern Iraq in June 2014.

Names of the 2,070 victims were posted on the wall of Mosul's coroner’s office and the group refused to hand over the remains to the victims' families for burial, according to the deputy.

'Abject criminality'

A statement from Nujaifi's office described the act as "a sign of abject criminality and complete moral deficiency".

"All the words of condemnation do not mean a thing in the face of this tragedy, because the souls of the martyrs demand justice, which cannot be attained without the liberation of Mosul and immediate action to achieve this goal," the statement read.
 
The vice-president called on the government and all political parties to work on sorting out their differences so that a military offensive to liberate Mosul can be launched.
 
The statement said that the international coalition against IS should prove its credibility by defending civilians in IS occupied territories and for the world to take action against the group's most recent crime.
 
While Nujaifi's statement did not disclose the time and place where the massacre took place, local sources confirmed to al-Araby al-Jadeed that IS has posted a long list of names of the victims.

Residents said IS had been "executed" the Mosul residents for cooperating with the Iraqi state.

Cruel end
 
IS refused to hand the bodies over to the victims' families and forced the families to sign pledges that they would not hold funerals in their names or announce their deaths on banners, as is customary in Iraq.
 
The Iraqi government have been known to make exaggerated and inaccurate reports about IS in the past and al-Araby al-Jadeed was not able to verify the information in al-Nufayfi's statement from independent sources.
 
The Camp Speicher massacre which took place on 12 June 2014 in the governorate of Saladin, is the largest confirmed massacre committed by IS, when the group murdered 1,700 Iraqi military cadets.
 
Meanwhile, a leading member of the Mosul Liberation Brigades criticised the central government for "neglecting" volunteers who are fighting IS.
 
Mohammad Raja al-Hamdani told al-Araby al-Jadeed: "Large numbers of volunteers have been left without weapons, making them easy prey for the IS group."

Hamdani also objected to the government's decision to use the volunteers in the Anbar battles – instead of regulars.

He believes this is an attempt by the government to force Nineveh authorities to seek the assistance of the Popular Mobilisation Forces - an assortment of pro-government Shia militias.