ISIS Herds Civilians to Mosul as Human Shields

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A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter stands on a bed frame as he observes a battle with Islamic State militants at Jarbuah village, near Bashiqa which is near Mosul, on Oct. 28. Photo: ahmed jadallah/Reuters

FAZILIYA, Iraq—Islamic State fighters are forcibly relocating tens of thousands of people from villages around Mosul to use them as human shields inside the city and have begun systematically executing those who refuse, the United Nations said Friday.

Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces have made slow but steady progress over the past few days as they close in on Islamic State’s last Iraq stronghold, forcing the militants to abandon towns and villages in the surrounding areas and fall back into Mosul.

“ISIL’s depraved, cowardly strategy is to attempt to use the presence of civilians to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations,” Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.

The tactic is a familiar one. In previous battles, Islamic State fighters have retreated to safety and loaded their trucks with civilians to deter U.S.-led coalition airstrikes from targeting them.

The militants began shuttling civilians from surrounding villages to Mosul on Oct. 17, the first day of the Iraqi-led ground offensive. Since then, Islamic State has forcibly relocated thousands of families and executed at least 232 people, including former Iraqi military personnel shot on Wednesday, according to the U.N.

Iraqi military sources said their coalition had killed 772 Islamic State militants in combat as of Thursday.

Mr. Hussein said Islamic State’s behavior means Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces need to be especially vigilant not to engage in “eye-for-an- eye” retribution.

In Faziliya, a village near Mosul newly freed from Islamic State’s grasp, relieved civilians relished the opportunity to attend Friday prayers and reunite with loved ones they had lost track of.

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Ismail, an Iraqi boy who escaped from the Islamic State-controlled Jarbuah village near Mosul and made it to the Kurdish Peshmerga military camp, breaks down in tears while recalling his experience, on Oct. 28. Photo: ahmed jadallah/Reuters

Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Thursday retook the village, where the lights of Mosul glow to the west at night. Civilians there said they had escaped the worst depredations under Islamic State.

Peshmerga made quick inroads in this area on the eastern front as soon as ground combat began. They cut a swath through Islamic State-held territory, bypassing villages to cut them off from supply routes and encircle Bashiqa, a strategic town about 12 miles east of Mosul. The Peshmerga for days have been going back and clearing the villages they bypassed, including Faziliya.

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Khalil Ismael Maroof, 64, stood on Friday in front of his home in Faziliya, which flew a white flag to show Peshmerga he wasn’t a militant. Photo: Ben Kesling/The Wall Street Journal

“See that house over there? They blew it up,” said 64-year-old Khalil Ismael Maroof, referring to Islamic State and pointing to the rubble of a neighbor’s home. “That was our way of life.”

Mr. Maroof waved to Peshmerga as they drove past his house and shook hands with people he hadn’t seen for years. In this village, Islamic State stationed fewer than 100 militants—enough to enforce harsh discipline on the local residents but not enough to round them up and march them from the village when the offensive launched almost two weeks ago.

“Two or three people used to be able to go to Mosul and bring flour back for us,” he said. “But seven days ago the supply line was cut.”

Over the past few days, Islamic State militants left the center of the village to hide in olive groves and in tunnels on the outskirts of Faziliya, according to multiple villagers and Peshmerga troops. From there, they fired heavy machine guns at Peshmerga and drove car bombs at the Kurdish troops while planting roadside bombs to prevent the troops from assaulting Mosul, locals and Peshmerga said.

A few days ago, the residents said they started putting up white flags on their roofs, indicators that they weren’t militants, as locals pulled out hidden cellphones to tip off Peshmerga units as they moved in on the village. By 1 p.m. Thursday, Peshmerga forces retook the town, leaving only a few pockets of Islamic State fighters dug in on the village outskirts.

Mr. Maroof said the villagers now have no clear route to the outside world. Islamic State-controlled Mosul has been cut off, and their path to Kurdish towns behind the front lines is filled with checkpoints that are difficult to pass, so their difficulties aren’t over yet.

Despite that, he praised God repeatedly for the Peshmerga and that he and his family had survived more than two years of Islamic State occupation.

“How can I say how I feel?” he said, smiling with the knowledge that the roads are at least now open to the military, which means long-awaited reunions for him soon. “I have five sons, all Peshmerga, and I haven’t seen them for 2½ years.”

—Tamer El-Ghobashy in Erbil, Iraq, contributed to this article.

Write to Ben Kesling at benjamin.kesling@wsj.com