The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday (June 6th) accused the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) of murdering 163 civilians to prevent them from fleeing Iraq's western Mosul last week, AFP reported.
"The brutality of ISIS and other terrorist groups seemingly knows no bounds," said Zeid Raad Al Hussein.
"Yesterday, my staff reported to me that bodies of murdered Iraqi men, women and children still lay on the streets of the al-Shira neighbourhood of western Mosul, after at least 163 people were shot and killed by ISIS to prevent them from fleeing," he said in his opening address to the UN Human Rights Council.
"My staff have also received reports of missing people from this neighbourhood," he added, without providing further details.
His spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP that the killings were believed to have taken place on June 1st.
Iraqi forces have retaken all but a handful of areas around the Old City in western Mosul, but the extremists are fighting in densely populated areas, and have used civilians as human shields at various points in the battle.
