(CHRISTIANPOST) — According to the watchdog organization Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights (IOHR), IS (also known as ISIS or ISIL) recently captured 197 children in western Mosul.

The organization took to Twitter on Saturday to sound the alarm about IS' abduction of the children, stating that they were taken near the al-Nouri Grand Mosque in west Mosul.

According to the Erbil-based BasNews.com, a source said that the militants intend to use the abducted children as human shields to stand in the way of the advancing coalition troops. IS has been known to use civilians as human shields in Iraq to make it difficult for advancing government troops.

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