UN says about 3,500 slaves being held by ISIL militants
The militant group, which also controls large parts of neighboring Syria, has committed widespread abuses that may "in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide," the report said.
The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the UN human rights office estimated that 3,500 people were "currently being held in slavery by ISIL."
"Those being held are predominantly women and children and come primarily from the Yezidi community, but a number are also from other ethnic and religious minority communities," said the joint report issued in Geneva.
The report detailed executions by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings.
It said the United Nations had information about the murder of child soldiers and had verified reports suggesting between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted for military and religious training.
"Even the obscene casualty figures fail to accurately reflect exactly how terribly civilians are suffering in Iraq," UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
"The figures capture those who were killed or maimed by overt violence, but countless others have died from the lack of access to basic food, water or medical care."
He added that the report laid bare the "horror" that Iraqi refugees were attempting to escape when they fled to Europe and other regions.
Elsewhere, at least 18,802 civilians were killed and another 36,245 were wounded in Iraq between the start of 2014 and Oct. 31 of last year as Iraqi forces battled ISIL, the UN report said.
Fighting ranges on
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said scores of Syrian government forces have been killed in three days of fighting with ISIL in the eastern part of the country, where the jihadist group has attacked government-held areas.
ISIL advanced against government forces on Monday near the city of Deir al-Zor after attacking the towns of Ayyash and Begayliya, the Observatory said.
Source: Today's Zaman