Blindfolded and shot dead, Isil suspects feel wrath of mob
The bodies lay decomposing in the hot Iraqi sun, blindfolded with their hands bound behind their backs. The only clue as to how these 11 men met their deaths, there at the side of the road 20 miles south of Mosul, was the bullet casings scattered next to their corpses.
Some the Telegraph spoke to in the nearby town of Hammam al-alil claim they were members of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Some say they were innocent boys who had been the victims of mob justice.
What is clear is they will never face trial to answer the accusations.
Six months after the town was liberated from Isil by the Iraqi army, local tribal forces and residents who suffered at the hands of the jihadists during their brutal two-and-a-halfyear reign have begun settling scores.
It started with the point-blank executions on the desert road. Then, in late May, a Facebook group called Hammam al-alil Revolution posted the names and addresses of the families of dead and imprisoned Isil fighters.
The group called on its 650 members to “burn them in their houses”.
“Soon we will start our operation, we are now locating Deash families,” read the first post on May 28. “We will make them regret joining. Good luck everyone,” it signed off.
Another post appeared a few days later, apparently after an attack carried out by one of its members, saying: “Today we targeted Mohammad Atrash, we threw two grenades and attacked the family with gunfire, as they did to us.” An accompanying photograph showed a grenade with the pin pulled out.
Ali Hamed Ahmed told the Telegraph he was fearful when he read his own name on the social media page on Saturday. Later that day, just before midnight, a gang threw explosives at his front door.
The 65-year-old former ambulance driver believes he was targeted because three of his sons had been Isil fighters. The eldest was killed in battle and Mr Ahmed made the other two hand themselves over to security services late last year.
Mr Ahmed had been sleeping, with his wife, daughters and grandchildren when the attack happened. None were injured, but the youngest of the children were shaken.
He showed us the remains of the grenade and his pockmarked door, which he had tried to repair with chewing gum and tape.
“I was very afraid, and still afraid that they will come back,” he said. “Our family is being punished for the sins of our sons. We have great shame for what they did, but they are not here now and this is our house, this is not right.”
Another family in the next road was targeted two nights in a row. On Friday night, four men on motorcycles threw a grenade at Leila Ali Jamil Salah’s front door; on Saturday night they returned and opened fire on her home with Kalashnikovs.
Mrs Salah, 65, whose husband and son were killed fighting with Isil in Mosul some time in 2016, now lives in the house with her daughters and two grandchildren. “My son made some wrong decisions, but he never hurt anyone,” she said. “I’ve tried begging forgiveness from the community but none of them want to know, all our neighbours hate us.
“I have told the police what is happening to us, but they have done nothing to help,” she said. “They don’t care what these gangs do to us because they think we deserve it.”
The Telegraph spoke to one of the members of the Facebook group, who identified himself only as Omar. He said his cousin had been killed by the jihadists in the final days of their rule over the town. At least 300 civilians were rounded up and summarily executed. “It’s a reciprocity,” Omar said. “They hurt my family, now we will hurt theirs.”
He said the grenade attacks were designed to scare families from their homes. Asked what they would do if they did not leave, he said they would “escalate” the attacks.
The resentment runs deep in Hammam al-alil, which was once one of Isil’s most important strongholds on the southern approach to Mosul.
Many residents and even National Security Services (NSS) troops stationed outside the town have stories of relatives killed by the militants.
One member of the NSS said he knew who was behind the vigilante attacks and would not intervene.
Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, expressed concern at the number of killings in areas recaptured from Isil.
The swift return of the rule of the mob in post-isil Mosul and the surrounding towns does not bode well for the future of Iraq’s second city.
“Our men are dead,” Mrs Salah said, wiping tears from her eyes. “This has to stop somewhere.”