Islamic State abducts soldiers, civilians in and around Mosul: U.N.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Islamic State is forcibly moving and killing civilians and security officers as it defends Mosul, Iraq, a United Nations spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Ravina Shamdasani of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said at a press briefing in Geneva that the office received information that about 1,500 families were forcibly removed by IS from Hammam al-Alil, a town near Mosul.

At least 295 former members of the Iraq Security Forces, a term describing the Iraqi government's military and law enforcement personnel, were also abducted by IS from towns around Mosul, she said.

She added the OHCHR received reports that IS also abducted 30 sheikhs from the area over the weekend, one report saying 18 of them were killed on Monday.

The Iraqi military reported Tuesday that forensic experts are investigating a mass grave, discovered by troops advancing towards Mosul, containing about 100 decapitated bodies. It said the grave, on the site of a Hammam al-Alil agricultural school, contains about 100 decapitated bodies and that the bodies were reduced to skeletons, making identification difficult.