Those killed on Thursday and Friday had
been rounded up near and in the city for use as human shields against
attacks that are forcing ISIS out of the southern sections of Mosul, the
source explained.
ISIS used a
bulldozer to dump the corpses in a mass grave at the scene of the
executions -- Mosul's defunct College of Agriculture in the north of the
city, the intelligence source said.
The
victims were all shot and some were children, said the source, who
wanted anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. CNN
could not independently confirm the claim.
The
United Nations earlier said it is "gravely worried" that ISIS has taken
550 families from villages around Mosul and is using them as human
shields as Iraqi and Kurdish forces battle the terror group for control
of Iraq's second-largest city.
Two
hundred families from Samalia village and 350 families from Najafia
were forced out Monday and taken to Mosul in what appears to be "an
apparent policy by ISIS to prevent civilians escaping," Ravina
Shamdasani, deputy spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, told CNN.
Meanwhile, ISIS militants attacked security buildings in Kirkuk, 175 kilometers (109 miles) southeast of Mosul.
Latest developments
• The UN human rights chief cites reports that civilians have been shot dead by ISIS.
• Nearly 30 ISIS militants have taken over a building in southern Kirkuk and fired on security forces.
• Twelve people were killed in a separate ISIS attack in Dibis.
• Iraqi-led forces have recaptured at least 100 square kilometers (39 square miles) of territory, CNN analysis shows.
UN had expressed concern
Zeid
Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his
office had evidence of several instances since Monday where ISIS forced
civilians to leave their homes in outlying villages and head to Mosul.
It also had received reports that civilians suspected of disloyalty had
been shot dead.
"We
are gravely worried by reports that (ISIS) is using civilians in and
around Mosul as human shields as the Iraqi forces advance, keeping
civilians close to their offices or places where fighters are located,
which may result in civilian casualties," Zeid said.
"There is a grave danger that (ISIS)
fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but
may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated," he said.
His office is examining reports that ISIS shot dead at least 40 civilians in a village outside Mosul.
Any
ISIS fighters who are captured or surrendered "should be held
accountable in accordance with the law for any crimes they have
committed," he said.
Security forces surround 2 Kirkuk locations
Dozens
of militants targeted four police stations and Kurdish security offices
in Kirkuk, spreading themselves out through neighborhoods.
Security
forces killed at least seven ISIS militants in Kirkuk, officials there
said, but there was no information yet on civilian casualties. Images
broadcast on local television showed what appeared to be dead or injured
fighters on the street.
Nearly
30 ISIS militants took over an unoccupied building in Domiz district in
southern Kirkuk and started firing on security forces there, according
to security officials. Iraqi security forces are surrounding the
building now, and sporadic clashes continue.
The
situation remains tense in the city, with at least two ISIS bombers
hiding inside two buildings in southern Kirkuk, security officials said.
Security forces surrounded both locations.
Local authorities imposed a curfew in Kirkuk.
The
media wing of ISIS, Amaq, said online that ISIS fighters had attacked
Kirkuk before dawn and taken control of 10 neighborhoods as well as
carried out attacks to the north and south of the city.
Previous attacks by ISIS militants on Kirkuk have been attempts either to capture the city from the Peshmerga, as the Kurdish fighters are known, or divert Kurdish troops from the fight in Mosul.
In
a separate incident, ISIS militants also attacked a government building
in Dibis, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Kirkuk.
Twelve people were killed, including nine Iraqi employees and three Iranian contractors
The most likely reason for Friday's assault in Kirkuk is disruption,
with ISIS demonstrating it can deploy resources far behind the front
lines, CNN's Michael Holmes said near Mosul.
"It's long been thought that there would
be something like this going on in more than one place around Iraq as
the Mosul offensive got under way," Holmes said. "There's been
speculation that there are ISIS sleeper cells, or ISIS fighters, within
reach of places like that for some time, from Baghdad to places like
Kirkuk."
The city's significance stems its large oil reserves, which are almost as much as those in southern Iraq.
Iraqi planes have dropped more than
eight million leaflets over ISIS-controlled areas of Anbar, Kirkuk and
Nineveh provinces, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said. The fliers
ask residents to call in tips to a toll-free phone number.
On
Thursday, fighting outside of Mosul as part of the offensive to retake
ISIS' last bastion of power in Iraq was the fiercest yet, with Iraqi-led
forces meeting strong resistance from militants.
Iraqi
Maj. Gen. Maan al-Saadi said 200 ISIS fighters were killed as Iraqi
forces captured the Christian town of Bartella, the latest win for the
coalition of around 100,000 closing in on Mosul.