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Militants from the Islamic State group carried out a mass killing of hundreds of Iraqi soldiers
captured when the extremists overran a military base north of Baghdad in June, a leading international
watchdog said Wednesday. The incident at Camp Speicher, an air base
that previously served as a U.S. military facility, was one of the worst atrocities
perpetrated by the Islamic State group in its lightning offensive that seized large
swaths of northern and western Iraq. According to Human Rights Watch, new evidence
indicates the Islamic State fighters killed between 560 and 770 men captured at Camp Speicher,
near the city of Tikrit � a figure several times higher than what was initially reported.
"These are horrific and massive abuses, atrocities by the Islamic State, and on a scale that
clearly rises to the crimes against humanity," Fred Abrahams, special HRW advisor, told media
in Irbil on Wednesday. The al-Qaida-breakaway claimed in mid-June
that it had "executed" about 1,700 soldiers and military personnel from Camp Speicher.
The group also posted graphic photos that appeared to show its gunmen massacring scores
of Iraqi soldiers after loading the captives onto flatbed trucks and then forcing them
to lie face-down in a shallow ditch, their arms tied behind their backs.
The grisly images, meant to sap the morale of Iraqi security forces, and the number of
slain troops could not be confirmed at the time. Human Rights Watch said in late June
that analysis of photos and satellite image showed that between 160 and 190 men were killed
in at least two locations between June 11 and 14.
After the incident, the soldiers were listed as missing, prompting their families to stage
demonstrations in Baghdad in an effort to pressure authorities for word on their sons'
fate. On Tuesday, dozens of their angry family members stormed into the parliament in Baghdad's
fortified Green Zone after scuffling with security guards, causing commotion and arguing
with lawmakers. They also forced the speaker to call a session for Wednesday on the missing
soldiers.