LATEST: 12 Executed Bodies Found After Insurgent In-Fighting North of Baghdad

Amnesty International has posted a 16-page report documenting executions in Iraq’s conflict since insurgents captured cities such as Mosul and Tikrit last month.

Amnesty’s primary focus is on executions by the Islamic State, prominent in Iraq’s insurgency, in Mosul and northwestern Iraq:

Virtually the entire non-Sunni population of Mosul, Tal ‘Afar and surrounding areas which have come under ISIS control has fled following killings, abductions, threats and attacks against their properties and places of worship.

It is difficult to establish the true scale of the killings and abductions that ISIS has committed. Amnesty International has gathered evidence about scores of cases. To date, ISIS does not appear to have engaged in mass targeting of civilians, but its choice of targets — Shi’a Muslims and Shi’a shrines — has caused fear and panic among the Shi’a community….

Sunni Muslims believed to be opposed to ISIS, members of the security forces, civil servants, and those who previously worked with US forces have similarly fled – some after they and their relatives were targeted by ISIS.

The report also cites “a pattern of extrajudicial executions of detainees by Iraqi government forces and Shi’a militias in the cities of Tal ‘Afar, Mosul and Ba’quba”, as well as civilian deaths from Iraqi airstrikes.

The report is based on a two-week investigation in cities, towns, villages, and camps in northern Iraq, including interview with survivors and relatives of victims of attacks.

12 Executed Bodies Found After Insurgent In-Fighting North of Baghdad

Residents have found 12 men shot by execution in Saadiya, north of Baghdad, following in-fighting among insurgent factions.

Police in Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of the capital, said the bodies were found on Monday after overnight clashes between fighters of the Islamic State and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by Baathists.

Saadiya, a mostly Sunni town in Diyala Province, was overrun by insurgents on June 10, the same day that the Islamic State and Naqshbandi took Mosul in northern Iraq.

Residents say the town is a stronghold of Naqshbandi Army fighters who supported the Islamic State when it swept into the area.

Parliament Finally Elects Speaker

On the fourth attempt since July 1, the Iraqi Parliament has named a speaker.

Sunni politician Salim al-Jabouri won 194 out of the 273 votes cast, with most of the rest deemed invalid and 19 going to his only rival, an obscure candidate elected to Parliament on a secular list.

Al-Jabouri is the Deputy Secretary-General of the Islamic Party. A law professor at University of Mesopotamia, he was a member of the committee drafting the Constitution and is now head of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee.

Parliament had briefly met once and failed to convene twice in its attempts to name a Speaker, President, and Prime Minister.

The main obstacle to al-Jabouri’s selection was removed when the previous Speaker, Osama al-Nujaifi, finally pulled back from standing for the post again.

There was no word on Tuesday of whether Parliament had moved to the naming of a President and a Prime Minister, possibly to replace the embattled Nuri al-Maliki.

“4 Iraqi Army Divisions Have Simply Disappeared”

McClatchy News summarizes the decimation of Iraq’s armed forces in the insurgent offensive last month:

Four Iraqi army divisions have simply disappeared and won’t be easily resurrected.

The 2nd Division was routed from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, on June 9 at the beginning of the Islamic State’s advance, and its four brigades have dissolved.

The 1st Division also is basically gone, losing two brigades in Anbar province earlier in the year, then two more during last month’s Islamic State onslaught, including one brigade that in the words of the senior Iraqi politician was “decimated” in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

The same is true of Iraq’s 3rd Division. The division’s 6th and 9th Brigades fled the Islamic State’s advance in the north, and the status of its 11th Brigade is unknown. A small unit of its 10th Brigade is still in Tal Afar, but it is trapped by Islamic State forces.

The 4th Division also was routed. Half its members have disappeared _ many suspect they were massacred when the Islamic State captured Tikrit _ and only one small unit is known to still exist, surrounded by Islamists at a one-time U.S. military base near Tikrit known as Camp Speicher.

The article also notes how — despite Government orders to release only good news — Iraqi attempts to regain ground have been far from successful:

The Iraqi media…claims that an operation cleared the road between the key Iraqi city of Samarra and Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown.

But the effort in fact appears to have stalled 20 miles outside Tikrit. “It’s heavily contested and the army and militias can’t make headway,” the politician said. “There are too many explosive devices on the road.”

However, Iraq’s military can still count on the fantasy news world of Iranian outlet Press TV: “Iraqi Army in Full Control of Tikrit“.