UN: Iraq crimes on an unimaginable scale

Geneva: The UN on Monday said that it has received reports from Iraq that "reveal acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale".

Deputy Human Rights Commissioner Flavia Pansieri said Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were believed to have committed systematic and intentional attacks on civilians. They include targeted killings, forced conversions, slavery, sexual abuse, and the besieging of entire communities.

Pansieri said evidence suggested that Iraqi government forces had killed detainees and shelled civilian areas. The unrest in Iraq has escalated dramatically in recent months as Islamic State, formerly known as Isis, and allied Sunni rebels have taken control of large parts of northern and western Iraq. Thousands of people have been killed, the majority of them civilians, and more than a million others have been forced to flee their homes.

On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council debated demands for an emergency mission to be sent to Iraq to investigate whether war crimes and crimes against humanity were being committed.

Iraq retakes town from militants
Kirkuk: Iraqi Kurdish forces and Shiite militiamen retook the town of Sulaiman Bek from militants today, removing a key stronghold they have held for over 11 weeks, officials said. "Sulaiman Bek is under the control of the combined forces," but there is still danger from bombs the militants may have left behind, said Shallal Abdul Baban, the official responsible for the nearby Tuz Khurmatu area.

Fighting to retake the village of Yankaja, also located in Salaheddin province, northeast of Baghdad, was ongoing, Baban said. A colonel in the Kurdish peshmerga forces and Talib al-Bayati, the top official from Sulaiman Bek, both confirmed that it had been retaken, adding that it had been an important position for the militants. The town is located near Amerli, where thousands of mainly Shiite Turkmen civilians were trapped by a jihadist siege until Iraqi forces broke through.