Battle for Mosul: Amnesty accuses Islamic State, Iraq Government, US-led coalition of war crimes

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Amnesty International has accused the Islamic State (IS) group, the Iraqi Government and the US-led coalition, which includes Australia, of war crimes in the battle for Mosul.

Key points: Amnesty says IS used tactics to draw fire on civilians

Report says US used bombs that were too powerful

Iraqi PM declared victory over IS in Mosul this week

As IS lost ground it refused to let civilians flee, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands who tried.

"Sometimes people would plan escapes in groups and that group would be rounded up and killed and their bodies left as an example or hung from electricity pylons," Amnesty's Middle East researcher Ben Walsby said.

Mr Walsby investigated the battle in east Mosul, west Mosul and in camps for displaced people who fled the city.

He told the ABC Islamic State even welded the doors of some houses shut, with the civilians inside.

"This could be perhaps the most cynical use of human shielding in modern warfare," Mr Walsby said.

IS fighters used car bombs, makeshift rockets and other indiscriminate weapons that killed civilians and they would deliberately draw fire upon civilian homes.

"They'd go up onto the roof, they'd fire on the helicopter then they'd run away and then you'd know your house was going to be struck within 15 minutes," Mr Walsby said.

"And this is what interviewees told me time and time again."

Making the risk even worse, IS forced civilians to stay with them, even as their territory shrank, so dozens of people, sometimes more, ended up crammed into a home.

"They were really bunching civilians up and using them as human shields," Mr Walsby said.

"They placed people very much in harm's way with the military onslaught which was coming."

But when the battle came to Mosul, Mr Walsby said Iraqi Government forces did too little to avoid killing civilians.

The Government dropped leaflets warning residents to avoid IS fighters and positions. But Mr Walsby said this was unrealistic and not an effective warning.

Iraqi security forces praised for bravery

Mr Walsby said residents praised the bravery of members of the Iraqi security forces and noted their attempts to rescue civilians and avoid hurting them.

But he said the chain of command bears responsibility for sending in some units, including the Federal Police, with inadequate training.

They would sometimes use mortars to attack enemy positions, destroying civilian homes as they calibrated each shot closer to their targets.

As well as airstrikes, government forces used mortars, artillery and makeshift rockets inside the city.

"Once they'd cleared an area from IS, they assisted in countless frontline rescues, digging bodies out of rubble ... so it beggars belief that this didn't go up the chain of command and somebody said 'well hang on a second, we're killing an awful lot of civilians'," Mr Walsby said.

The most notorious attack came in mid-March when a US war plane bombed a building to kill two IS snipers.

The American investigation said the building collapsed when the bomb detonated explosives secretly stored there by IS. More than 100 civilians were killed.

But Mr Walsby said it was just the most well-known case of the US-led coalition using bombs that were much too powerful, given the risks.

"There is the possibility that after the March 17 event payloads were reduced, and I've been told that by confidential sources ... be that as it may I think we can safely conclude the payloads were too big and even when precision weapons were used, if the bomb's too big, sure it's going to hit the target but it's going to kill too many civilians as well."

The US-led coalition said the report was irresponsible and an insult to those who fought the battle.

Amnesty has urged the Iraqi Government, with the help of the UN, to establish an independent commission to investigate and pay compensation to the victims.

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, iraq, united-states