Geneva — The UN said Tuesday it had received reports of dozens of execution-type killings by Islamic State (IS) jihadists, including the slaying of 50 former police officers, as Iraqi troops close in on Mosul. The allegations, which are "preliminary", have come from a range of civilian and government sources, who cannot be named for security reasons, said UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville. The reported atrocities were perpetrated by the jihadists between Wednesday and Sunday, while Iraqi forces advanced towards Mosul, the last IS bastion in the country, Colville said. In a village called Safina, about 45km south of Mosul, IS was blamed for executing 15 civilians before throwing their bodies in a river. On October 19 also in Safina, extremist fighters "reportedly tied six civilians to a vehicle by their hands and dragged them around the village, apparently because they were related to a particular tribal leader fighting IS," Colville said. Iraqi security forces found another...

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