Militants' photos show Iraq troops massacred

Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and shout against the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Basra, Iraq, on Sunday.
Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and shout against the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Basra, Iraq, on Sunday.

BAGHDAD -- The Islamic militants who overran cities and towns in Iraq last week posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers, while the prime minister vowed Sunday to "liberate every inch" of captured territory.

The pictures on a militant website appear to show masked fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie facedown in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs.

The photographs showed at least five massacre sites, and the number of victims that could be seen in any of the pictures numbered between 20 and 60 in each of the sites, although it was not clear whether the photographs showed the entire graves.

The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations.

Chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the photos' authenticity and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by the Islamic State. He said that an examination of the images by military experts showed that about 170 soldiers were shot to death after their capture.

Many of the captions were mocking toward the victims. In one photograph, showing 25 young men walking toward an apparent execution site, where armed, masked men awaited, the caption read, "Look at them walking to death on their own feet."

Other photographs showed prisoners, mostly young men, stuffed in large numbers in dump trucks and pickups. They appeared extremely frightened.

U.S. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said the militants' claim of killing the Iraqi troops "is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that those terrorists represent."

She added that a claim that 1,700 were killed could not be confirmed by the U.S.

Iraqi government officials cast doubt on whether such a mass execution took place. There were also no reports of large numbers of funerals in the Salahuddin province area, where the executions were said to have been conducted.

If the claim is true, it would be the worst mass killing in either Syria or Iraq in recent years, surpassing even the chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian suburbs of Damascus last year, which killed 1,400 people and were attributed to the Syrian government.

On Friday, U.N. human-rights chief Navi Pillay warned against "murder of all kinds" and other war crimes in Iraq, saying the number killed in recent days may run into the hundreds. She said in a statement that her office had received reports that militants rounded up and killed Iraqi soldiers as well as 17 civilians in a single street in Mosul. Her office also heard of "summary executions and extrajudicial killings" after Islamic State militants overran Iraqi cities and towns.

Thousands of Shiites are already heeding a call from their most revered spiritual leader to take up arms against the Sunni militants who have swept across the north in the worst instability in Iraq since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011.

The Islamic State has vowed to take the battle to Baghdad and cities farther south housing revered Shiite shrines.

Although the government bolstered defenses around Baghdad, a series of explosions inside the capital killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 40, police and hospital officials said.

Security at the U.S. Embassy was strengthened and some staff members sent elsewhere in Iraq and to neighboring Jordan, the State Department said. A military official said about 150 Marines have been sent to Baghdad to help with embassy security.

In a fiery speech to volunteers south of Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to regain territory captured last week by the militants.

"We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point," he said. The volunteers responded with Shiite chants.

On Saturday, hundreds of armed Shiite men paraded through the streets of Baghdad in response to a call by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to defend their country. The Islamic State has vowed to attack Baghdad but its advance to the south seems to have stalled in recent days. Thousands of Shiites have also volunteered to join the fight against the militants, also in response to al-Sistani's call.

Armed police, including SWAT teams, were seen at checkpoints in Baghdad, searching vehicles and checking drivers' documents. Security was particularly tightened on the northern and western approaches, the likely targets of Islamic fighters on the capital.

Sunday, the city had sparse traffic and few shoppers in commercial areas. At a popular park along the Tigris River, only a fraction of the thousands who usually head there were present in the evening. In the commercial Karada district in central Baghdad, many of the sidewalk hawkers who sell shoes, toys and clothes were also absent.

According to police and hospital officials, a car bomb in the city center killed 10 and wounded 21. After nightfall, another explosion hit the area, killing two and wounding five. A third went off near a falafel shop in the sprawling Sadr City district, killing three and wounding seven. Late Sunday, a fourth blast in the northern Sulaikh district killed four and wounded 12.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Suicide and car bombings in recent months have mostly targeted Shiite neighborhoods or security forces.

Security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was bolstered and some staff members were being moved out of Iraq's capital city as it was threatened by the advance of an al-Qaida inspired insurgency, Psaki said Sunday.

In a statement, she said much of the U.S. Embassy staff will stay in place even as parts of the country experience instability and violence. She did not say the number of personnel affected. The embassy is within Baghdad's Green Zone. It has about 5,000 personnel, making it the largest U.S. diplomatic post in the world.

"Overall, a substantial majority of the U.S. Embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place and the embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission," she said.

Some embassy staff members have been temporarily moved elsewhere to more stable places at consulates in Basra in the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq and Irbil in the Kurdish semiautonomous region in northeastern Iraq and to Jordan, she said.

U.S. travelers in the country were encouraged to exercise caution and limit travel to certain parts of Iraq.

"Due to the relocation of personnel from Baghdad, the embassy will only be restricted in its ability to offer all consular services; but emergency services are always available to U.S. citizens in need at any embassy or consulate anywhere in the world," Psaki said.

Secretary of State John Kerry called foreign ministers in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to discuss the need for Iraqi leaders to work together.

The USS George H.W. Bush arrived in the Persian Gulf as President Barack Obama considers possible military options, although he has ruled out putting American troops on the ground in Iraq.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby has said the move will give Obama additional flexibility if military action were required to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq.

In neighboring Iran, the acting commander of the Islamic Republic's army ground forces, Gen. Kiomars Heidari, said Iran has increased its defenses along its western border with Iraq, though there was no immediate threat to the frontier.

Iraqi government officials said Islamic State fighters were trying to capture the city of Tal Afar in the north and firing rockets seized from military arms depots. The officials said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the main hospital was unable to cope with the wounded, without providing exact numbers.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. Tal Afar is mainly inhabited by Turkmen, an ethnic minority.

Al-Moussawi, the military spokesman, confirmed fighting was raging at Tal Afar, but indicated that the militants were suffering heavy casualties. On all fronts north of Baghdad, he said, a total of 297 militants have been killed in the past 24 hours.

There was no way to independently confirm his claims.

Information for this article was contributed by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub, Adam Schreck, Raphael Satter, Kimberly Hefling and Amir Vahdat of The Associated Press and by Rod Nordland, Alissa J. Rubin and Tim Arango of The New York Times.

A Section on 06/16/2014

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