ISIS detains 15.000 civilians as human shields in Yathrib district south of Tikrit

(IraqiNews.com) On Sunday, Provincial Council member Salah al-Din Ahmed Nazim revealed that the ISIS organization detained about 15 thousand civilians inside Yathrib district, south of Tikrit as human shields to prevent the advance of the security forces, indicating that hundreds of families of this area managed to escape toward the provinces of Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, and Peshmerga forces prevented them from entering.

Nazim said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “After the beginning of military operations to liberate Yathrib (80 km south of Tikrit), about 15 thousand civilians tried to flee to safe areas across the Tigris River by boat,” noting that, “ISIS detained them near the river and prevented them from leaving the area so as to use them as human shields.”

Nazim added, “The Iraqi Army responded to our pleas to stop the bombing in the past two days because of the presence of thousands of families held by the organization,” pointing out that, “Hundreds of families in Yathrib district managed to escape towards Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, but the Peshmerga forces prevented them from entering.”