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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.

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 Daily 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 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,” Salah said, wiping tears from her eyes. “This has to stop somewhere.”