http://www.smh.com.au/world/islamic-state-brutality-revealed-as-military-advances-20161107-gsk4lp.html
a.. November 8 2016 - 6:00AM Islamic State brutality revealed as military advances Al-Alil: From behind the curtains of his bedroom window, 29-year-old Riyad Ahmed would peer out at Islamic State fighters dragging civilians into a makeshift jail across the street and then sending them in the middle of the night to be executed. The former English teacher from the town of Hammam al-Alil, south of the jihadists' Mosul stronghold, recalls hearing victims' cries of agony as he hid with dozens of neighbours in the shadow of one of the group's detention centres. Civilians flee Mosul as fighting intensifies Hundreds of civilians flee on foot from their homes in the south of Mosul as Iraqi special forces push further into Islamic State group-held territory. Iraq's army and federal police, participating in a US-backed offensive launched last month to recapture the largest population centre under the jihadists' control, retook this area over the weekend. As the forces advance, details of IS's brutality and growing desperation are being reinforced by first-hand accounts of residents. Related Content a.. Battle for Mosul reveals a generation of children oblivious to war b.. 'Now we have our freedom': Mosul residents wake up to a day without IS Standing on the road between his house and the jail on Monday, Ahmed told Reuters that no part of Hammam al-Alil had been spared from the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamists' violence. In his street alone, he said six people he knew had been executed, including his father and a family of three that lived next door. Aid organisations, local officials and Mosul residents have cited reports that IS executed dozens of people in Hammam al-Alil and barracks nearby over the course of a week, on suspicion of planning rebellions in and around Mosul to aid the advancing troops. Abdul Rahman al-Waggaa, a member of the Nineveh provincial council, said IS had used the town's agricultural college as "a killing field" for hundreds of people in the days before the Iraqi government advance. An image of Jesus Christ is seen placed at a destroyed church in the newly liberated town of Bartella in Gogjali, Iraq. Photo: Getty Police backed up his accounts, but the road to the college was still lined with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), preventing Reuters from visiting. The military says its forces at the complex have discovered the decapitated corpses of at least 100 civilians. An Iraqi Special Forces soldier checks ID's of men fleeing the fighting in Mosul at a civilian screening check point in November in Gogjali, Iraq. Photo: Getty Residents still in Hammam al-Alil told how they packed into homes with nearly 100 other people each for days to avoid being forced to flee to Mosul as IS retreated. Thousands of civilians, including many from villages further south who had been forced to serve as human shields for the jihadists, escaped to government camps over the weekend while others were forced deeper into IS-held territory. An image of the Virgin Mary is seen placed at a destroyed church in the newly liberated town of Bartella in Gogjali, Iraq. Photo: Getty
