MOSUL: IS USING VILLAGERS AS HUMAN SHIELDS

QAYARA, IRAQ: Islamic State mili tants have been going door to door in villages south of Mosul ordering people at gunpoint on a mileslong trek into the city and using them as human shields as the extremists prepare to defend it from Iraqi forces, according to residents swept up in the forced evacuations.

Witnesses described scenes of chaos over the past week as hun dreds of people were ordered out of their homes without having time to pack and driven north across the Ninevah plains toward the heavily-fortified city, where IS has been preparing for a cli mactic showdown.

“IS took all of us from our homes at gunpoint and told us they were taking us with them to Mosul,” Ahmed Bilal Harish told The Associated Press on Wednes day. “They said if you don’t come with us you’re an unbeliever.”

He said he and his family were only able to escape when a volley of airstrikes caused the fighters to scatter during the 40-km forced march from their home in the town of Shura to Mosul.

“We had two choices: We could be killed by Daesh or die along the way, so we ran,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. The fam ily is now living in a camp for those displaced by the fighting in an area under government con trol. Other Shura residents also described being forcibly relo cated to Mosul over the weekend The militants only gave people a few minutes to leave and said any stragglers risked being punished for hiding out and trying to join the Iraqi security forces.