Islamic State Mass Executions In Northern Iraq Since Summer Offensive Started

The brutality of the Islamic State’s (IS) rule was well known from its control of parts of northern Syria. There are pictures on the Internet of the group beheading people, crucifying them, and shooting their opponents in that country. Now that it has conquered territory in Kirkuk, Ninewa, and Salahaddin IS has brought its violent form of governance to Iraq. There are growing reports of executions of members of the security forces (ISF), Turkmen, Yazidis, those that refuse to pledge allegiance to it, and those found guilty in its sharia courts. There are more and more reports coming out of these mass killings, and the group is far from over.

Bodies discovered in a mass grave in Sulaiman Bek, Salahaddin Sep 5, 2014 (EFE/EPA)

In June the Islamic State took Mosul and then moved south into Salahaddin. Immediately afterward the first stories of mass executions appeared. The first was in the Tikrit area involving soldiers captured at Camp Speicher. IS claimed that it killed 1,700 of them from June 11-14. The murders were video taped, photographed and extensively spread through social media by the organization to brag about its victory over the Iraqi government. It’s not clear whether that many were actually killed, but Human Rights Watch has estimated at least 770 died there in several different locations around the city. That was just the beginning. Three days later IS executed 25 soldiers it captured outside of Samarra. On June 21 84 members of the ISF and government workers were murdered in Tikrit, and then seven more soldiers in Shirqat on June 26. In August another 200 bodies of students were discovered in Camp Speicher after the area had been cleared by the ISF. Then in September when Sulaiman Bek in eastern Salahaddin was freed from the Islamic State a series of mass graves were discovered with a total of 89 bodies in them. So far there have been at least 1,411 killed by IS in Salahaddin.

Islamic State Executions In Salahaddin Jun-Sep 2014

Date	Location	Dead
Jun 11-14	Tikrit	770 Soldiers
Jun 17	Outside Samarra	25 Soldiers
Jun 21	Tikrit	84 ISF & Govt workers
Jun 26	Shirqat	7 Soldiers
Jul 9	Azwip	15
Jul 16	Tikrit	5
Jul 17	Tikrit	5
Jul 19	Shirqat	1 Police
Jul 25	South of Tikrit	6 Sahwa
	Abbasid	18 Police
Jul 31	Shirqat	17
Aug 2	Shirqat	14 Police
	Tikrit	1 Police
Aug 7	Tikrit	3
Aug 8	Baiji	7
Aug 9	Camp Speicher	200
Aug 14	Tikrit	12
Aug 18	Albu Jwari	1 Sahwa
Aug 23	Awija	6 Soldiers
	Hegeel	1 Police
Aug 26	Shirqat	15
Aug 28	Shirqat	15 Sahwa
Sep 3	Baiji	60
	Sulaiman Bek	24
Sep 5	Amerli	24
	Sulaiman Bek	35
Sep 11	Sulaiman Bek	30
Sep 12	Jumash	1
Sep 13	Jumash	8
Sep 15	Shirqat	1
Total	-	1,411

Northern Ninewa was the first part of Iraq to fall to the Islamic State and has seen its own share of massacres. Right after the fall of Mosul 12 clerics were murdered on June 14. There have been a steady flow of people executed in Mosul and the surrounding area since then for people who refused to pledge allegiance to the IS or were found guilty for breaking its rules or were members of the security forces. More deaths were reported after the fall of the Sinjar area on August 3. That day the Islamic State killed 250 Yazidis in Sinjar, Solagh, Qiniyah, and Qahtanya in part of its organized campaign to wipe out the religious group. August 5 another 300 Yazidis died in Sinjar, and then 90 more in Kojo when that town was taken on August 15. Recently 500 bodies were found of prisoners from Badush prison outside of Mosul on September 10, and 30 were shot in Tal Afar on September 14. In total, there have been 1,426 deaths in Ninewa connected to IS executions since June.

Islamic State Executions In Ninewa Jun-Sep 2014

Date	Location	Dead
Jun 14	Mosul	12 clerics
Jun 20	Kokjla	2 Shabaks
Jan 30	Shura	6 Police
Jul 2	Shura	4 Police
Jul 3	Mosul	9
Jul 14	Kokjla	10
Jul 27	Mosul	5
Aug 3	Sinjar	80 Yazidis
	Solagh	20 Yazidis
	Qiniyah	90 Yazidis
	Qahtanya	60 Yazidis
Aug 5	Sinjar	300 Yazidis
Aug 15	Kojo	90 Yazidis
Aug 26	Mosul	5
Aug 28	Mosul	7
Sep 1	Sinjar	15 Yazidis
Sep 2	Mosul	7
Sep 4	Mosul	15
Sep 5	Mosul	3
Sep 6	Mosul	5
Sep 7	Mosul	46
Sep 8	Mosul	31
	Wadi Hajar	2 Police
Sep 10	?	31 Police
	Humaidiyat	500 Badush prisoners
	Barzak	35 Yazidis
Sep 11	Mosul	2
Sep 13	Mosul	1
Sep 14	Tal Afar	30
Sep 15	Mosul	3
Total	-	1,425

Western Kirkuk was taken after the fall of Mosul in June and has seen the fewest mass killings so far. Most of the victims have been Turkmen with 55 killed on June 24 and July 3 in Bashir. Several Sahwa and others have been shot as well for a total of 116 since June 23.

Islamic State Executions In Kirkuk Jun-Sep 2014

Date	Location	Dead
Jun 23	Taza	40
Jun 24	Bashir	15 Turkmen
Jun 25	Hawija	4 Sahwa
Jul 3	Bashir	40 Turkmen
Jul 22	Copalh	7
Aug 26	Abbasi	3 Sahwa
Sep 11	Riyad	3
Sep 14	Zab	4
Total	-	116

How the Islamic State plans to rule is revealed in these mass killings. The true cost of their conquering of northern Iraq will not be known until it is expelled from the area. The 2,952 people who have been reported killed in the press and by human rights groups is undoubtedly only a fraction of those that have lost their lives so far. IS is determined to wipe out those that do not agree with it or who do not fit its vision of the Caliphate, which will lead it to more of these massacres in the future.

SOURCES

AIN, "5 corpses discovered in Tikrit," 7/16/14

Alsumaria, "Daash executed two policemen in center and south of Mosul," 9/8/14

- "Found a mass grave containing the remains of 30 bodies east of Tikrit," 9/11/14

- "Found the bodies of six soldiers were killed by firing squad south of Tikrit," 8/23/14

Amnesty International, "Ethnic Cleansing On A Historic Scale: Islamic State's Systematic Targeting of Minorities In Northern Iraq, 9/2/14

Buratha News, "7 bodies found of police officers kidnapped by Daash terrorists north of Tikrit," 8/8/14

- "200 bodies found near Base Speicher believed to be students killed by Daash gang," 8/9/14

- "After the expulsion of Daash rates found 25 bodies, mostly soldiers who have died by firing squad, west of country," 6/17/14

- "The bodies of the martyrs lying on the roads of Bashir by Daash," 7/3/14

- "Daash delivers to the forensic medicine in Mosul 30 bodies including senior officers executed within a week," 9/8/14

- "Daash executed 7 civilian residents of Mosul," 9/2/14

- "Daash gang executes 17 citizens of Sharqat," 7/31/14

- "Daash terrorist gang execute five people after torturing them in the streets of Tikrit," 7/17/14

- "Daash terrorist gang executes 30 people including one tribal leader in Tal Afar,

west of Mosul," 9/14/14

- "Daash terrorists executed 40 people including children shot dead in Mosul," 9/7/14

- "Daash threaten the population of Mosul flogging 80 times for each and executed 12 clerics who refused to pledge allegiance in Mosul," 6/14/14

- "Found 60 bodies from Baiji north of Tikrit," 9/3/14

- "Found a grave containing the bodies of 15 of Awakening abducted by Daash north of Tikrit," 8/28/14

Dolamari, Mewan, "500 Bodies Found in IS Mass Grave in Northern Iraq," 9/10/14

eKurd, "After Peshmerga pullout,hundreds of missing Iraqi Kurdish Yazidis feared dead," 8/4/14

Al Forat, "3 unveiled women executed by ISIL northern Tikrit," 8/7/14

- "6 Corpses belong to IP discovered in Mosul," 6/30/14

- "14 Intelligence officers executed by ISIL in Shurqat," 8/2/14

- “ISIL executes 3 western Kirkuk,” 9/14/14

- "ISIL executes woman, throws her body in Tigris River," 9/4/14

- "ISIS terrorist gangs execute 4 policemen in southern Mosul," 7/2/14

- "ISIL terrorists execute kidnapped officer in northern Tikrit," 8/2/14

- "ISIS terrorists execute police colonel in Shurqat," 7/19/14

- "Policeman slaughtered in front of his family in Tikrit," 8/23/14

Hauslohner, Abigail, "Shiite villagers describe 'massacre in northern Iraq," Washington Post, 6/23/14

Human Rights Watch, "Islamic State Executions in Tikrit," 9/3/14

Independent Press Agency, "Daash executed 5 because of their opposition to the demolition of shrines," 7/27/14

Iraq Times, "Daash displaces Kurds and Shiites and execute ten of them in Sinjar," 8/3/14

Jaffe, Greg, "In Amerli, an unusual alliance defeated Islamic radicals. Don't count on that lasting," Washington Post, 9/5/14

Kirkuk Now, "15 Bodies are Buried in Taza," 6/24/14

Al Mada, "Found the bodies of 15 executed elements of the security forces by Daash east of Tikrit," 8/26/14

- "Peshmerga announces finding the bodies of seven drivers who were kidnapped by Daash and delivered them to their relatives," 7/22/14

- "Six bodies found of elements of the Awakening south of Tikrit," 7/25/14

Mamuzini, Hazhar, "IS Militants Behead Five Fortunetellers in Mosul," Bas News, 9/6/14

Al Masalah, "Daash kidnap 20 citizens near Mosul," 6/20/14

- "Found 10 bodies west of Mosul," 7/14/14

NINA, "/9/ unidentified bodies found with signs of torture in Mosul," 7/3/14

- "/12/ Bodies of people kidnapped by the IS found in Tikrit," 8/14/14

- "/35/ Bodies found in Sulaiman Bek district south of Kirkuk," 9/5/14

- "The bodies of 18 members of policemen found south of Tikrit," 7/25/14

- "Daash gangs execute one of Sahwa forces commander in Salahuddin," 8/18/14

- "Daash kidnaps 20 members of the former Sahwa forces west of Kirkuk," 9/11/14

- "The IS executed three young men in Mosul, for unknown reasons," 9/15/14

- "ISIS executes four members of the awakening of Hawija, west of Kirkuk," 6/25/14

- "Islamic State executed 14 civilians in Mosul," 9/4/14

- “Islamic State executes an engineer in Kirkuk,” 9/14/14

- "The Islamic State executed five men in Mosul," 8/26/14

- "Islamic State executes 31 police officers in Nineveh refused to cooperate with them," 9/10/14

- "The Islamic State executes three women in Mosul," 9/5/14

Nordland, Rod, "As Fighting Spreads Through Iraq, Sunni Allies Turn on One Another," New York Times, 6/21/14

Osgood, Patrick and Tahir, Rawaz, "Iraq's Yezidi minority faces massacre," Iraq Oil Report, 8/6/14

Radio Nawa, "Daash executed two women residents of Mosul," 9/11/14

Al Rayy, "Daash executed seven soldiers southwest of Kirkuk," 6/26/14

- "Daash executed six people including former candidate in Mosul," 9/7/14

- "Daash executes seven civilians from the people of Mosul, the second such incident within 24 hours," 8/28/14

- "Daash executes three members of the tribal council in Mentved west of Kirkuk," 8/26/14

- "Daash gangs execute 15 people in northern Salahuddin," 7/9/14

Reuters, “Islamic State executes eight Sunnis in northern Iraq,” 9/14/14

Saad, Mustafa, "Mass grave found east of Tikrit," Alsumaria, 9/3/14

Shafaq News, "ISIS kills 15 Yazidi elders by blowing a shrine in Sinjar," 9/1/14