© Stringer / ReutersShi'ite fighters launch rocket towards Islamic State militants during heavy fighting in Salahuddin province
Iraqi militias fighting Islamic State alongside government troops are using weapons - supplied by major military powers - to commit war crimes, stage revenge attacks and commit other atrocities, according to a new Amnesty International report.
"International arms suppliers, including the USA, European countries, Russia and Iran, must wake up to the fact that all arms transfers to Iraq carry a real risk of ending up in the hands of militia groups with long histories of human rights violations," said Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International's researcher on arms control and human rights.
The report, entitled 'Turning a blind eye: The arming of the Popular Mobilization Units', comes as Iraqi troops and allied Shia militia units attempt to re-capture the Islamic State's (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) stronghold of Mosul.Securing the large and heavily fortified city has proved difficult due to the terror group's resistance and firepower. Iraqi forces have also been involved in cases of abuse, torture and extrajudicial killings, according to previous media reports.
Now, AI says, the Shia militias loyal to the Iraqi government have used foreign-supplied arms "to facilitate the enforced disappearance and abduction of thousands of mainly Sunni men and boys, torture and extrajudicial executions as well as wanton destruction of property."The weapons come from various countries, with the US the main supplier of military equipment to Iraqi forces. Since 2014, under the umbrella of the Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF), about $1.6 billion of weapons have been brought into Iraq. the arsenal includes 38,400 M4 rifles, 1,560 M240 machine guns and 584,120, 81mm and 60mm mortars.
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