Updated Sat, October 22nd 2016 at 12:19 GMT +3GENEVA: Islamic State militants have taken 550 families from villages around Mosul and are holding them close to Islamic State (ISIL) locations in the Iraqi city, probably as human shields, the UN human rights office said on Friday. "There is a grave danger that ISIL fighters will not only use such vulnerable people as human shields but may opt to kill them rather than see them liberated." "This would seem to indicate that the reason for these moves is to use them for the purposes of human shields," she said. The office was also investigating "corroborated information" that Islamic State militants had killed 40 civilians in one village outside Mosul. Zeid said that Iraq must respect international law when screening civilians leaving areas controlled by Islamic State, a job that should only be done by army and police.

Source: Standard Digital October 22, 2016 09:33 UTC