Over 145 civilians killed for trying to flee Iraq's Mosul

The Islamic State (IS) terror organisation has executed more than 145 civilians for trying to flee the western part of the Iraqi city of Mosul, according to a top security official.

The official told Efe news on Saturday that the civilians from al-Zanjili neighbourhood in western Mosul were executed after they were caught attempting to escape.

He pointed out that IS extremists hanged the bodies of the victims from electricity poles after declaring them apostates for trying to leave "the land of the caliphate".

Al-Bayati added that the civilians had also been accused of providing information to Iraqi security forces.

Iraqi government forces are now struggling to expel IS militants from the western part of Mosul, where some neighbourhoods are still controlled by the extremists. The IS seized large swaths of northern Iraq in the summer of 2014 and proclaimed a caliphate in the territory under its control in that Arab country and neighbouring Syria. It made the city of Mosul its main stronghold.

Iraqi officials say ISIS now only controls one tenth of the city. But they anticipate that the final, most difficult phase is yet to come. Iraqi forces are preparing to push into the 17th Tammouz neighborhood, named after the 1968 coup d'état.