ISIS releases footage of Tikrit massacre
The highest estimates put at 1,700 the number of cadets ISIS gunmen captured at the Speicher military base near Tikrit
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group on Saturday released new footage of its June 2014 massacre of hundreds of mostly Shiite military recruits in Tikrit.
The highest estimates put at 1,700 the number of cadets ISIS gunmen captured at the Speicher military base near Tikrit and executed at various locations, mostly in the city's former presidential palace complex.
The 22-minute video posted on jihadist forums, which included both new and previously released footage, shows hundreds of executions, providing further evidence of the scope of the atrocity.
Some of the victims are shown pleading for their lives, attempting to explain they had only just joined the security forces.
The grisly footage shows executions on an industrial scale, with victims falling out of dump trucks and later lying side by side in shallow mass graves before being shot dead one by one.
The killing went on into the night and the video shows an excavator being used to move piles of bodies.
Around 600 bodies have been exhumed since government and allied fighters retook Tikrit from ISIS in April but many of the victims were dumped into the Tigris river.
An unidentified ISIS leader in military uniform is seen in the video released on Saturday.
“This is a message I address to the whole world and especially to the Rafidha dogs, I tell them we are coming,” he said, using the pejorative term ISIS employs for Shiite Muslims.
The video was released four days after a court in Baghdad sentenced 24 men to death by hanging over the Speicher massacre.
The trial lasted only a few hours, and the convictions were based mostly on confessions the defendants claimed were obtained under torture.
Combined with a call by the country's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to take up arms against them, the Speicher massacre played a key role in the mass recruitment of Shiite volunteers to fight the militants.
Also Read
-
First families return to Tikrit since city retaken from ISIS
Government forces dislodged the insurgents from Tikrit in April after a month-long battle Middle East -
Iraqi officials: next battle is regaining Anbar from ISIS
The ‘next battle’ against ISIS, after liberating Tikrit, would be to retake Anbar, Iraqi officials are saying Middle East -
Iraq’s Tikrit, free of ISIS, is a city in ruins
Much of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown and once a bustling city north of Baghdad, now lies in ruins Features -
Amnesty probing reports of Iraqi forces' abuses in Tikrit
Security forces backed by paramilitary groups and supported by U.S.-led air strikes retook Tikrit from ISIS Middle East -
Officer says ‘major sacrifices’ needed to retake Tikrit from ISIS
Four Iraqi soldiers were killed and 11 others were wounded after overnight fighting with ISIS in the street in Tikrit Middle East -
Iraq troops launch final phase of Tikrit push, France bombs ISIS
Also on Thursday, France launched its first bombing strike against ISIS in the Iraqi city Middle East -
U.S. providing ‘eye in the sky’ for Iraq Tikrit op, official says
The United States is providing reconnaissance support for Iraq’s operation to retake Tikrit from ISIS Middle East -
Iraqi Sunnis accuse Shiite paramilitaries of burning homes outside Tikrit
Iraqi security forces backed by Shiite paramilitary groups have paused their push to drive ISIS out of the city of Tikrit Middle East -
Iraq’s Tikrit offensive stalled by ISIS bombs
The operation to recapture Tikrit, the capital of Salaheddin province, began on March 2 Middle East -
Iraqi forces vow to liberate Tikrit within 72 hours
A spokesman of the volunteer Popular mobilization units says it would take no more than ‘72 hours’ to cleanse Tikrit from ISIS Middle East
