The United Nations says it has received reports of Islamic State (IS) militants massacring civilians as Iraqi government forces close in on the northern city of Mosul, the last IS stronghold in Iraq.
The UN Human Rights Commission said on October 25 that about 70 bodies with gunshot wounds were discovered in the village of Tulul Naser, about 35 kilometers south of Mosul.
However, the commission cautioned that it was difficult to independently verify the atrocities being committed in Iraq.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the commission, told a news conference in Geneva on October 25 that it was continuing to receive reports of IS attacks against children and women, as well as male civilians.
The commission said some 15 civilians were killed by IS militants on October 19 in the village of Safina, about 45 kilometers outside of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. Their bodies were reportedly dumped in a river.
In the same village, six others were said to have been tied to a vehicle and dragged to death, the commission said.