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 In a report, the U.N. focused on a range of violations committed
against civilians, particularly by the Islamic State, though it also
said Iraqi forces and allied fighters had not taken precautions to
protect civilians from violence.
"(This)...may also amount to war crimes," it said in its report into
months of unrest which culminated in advances by Sunni militants led
by the al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, formerly known as ISIL,
across the north of the country.
"ISIL and associated armed groups have also continued to...
perpetrate targeted assassinations (of) community, political, and
religious leaders, government employees, education professionals,
health workers... sexual assault, rape and other forms of sexual
violence against women and girls, forced recruitment of children,
kidnappings, executions, robberies."
The report, the U.N.'s most comprehensive review of the impact of
months of unrest, also accused the Islamic State of wanton
destruction and plundering of places of worship and of cultural or
historical significance.
 "Every day we receive accounts of a terrible litany of human rights
violations being committed in Iraq against ordinary Iraqi children,
women and men, who have been deprived of their security, their
livelihoods, their homes, education, healthcare and other basic
services," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.
Iraq's Interior Ministry, citing testimony from a survivor, said
this week that an investigation had revealed the Islamic State took
510 Shi’ite prisoners from a Mosul prison to nearby farmland and
executed all but 17 who managed to flee.
The report also detailed violations committed by government forces
and affiliated groups, citing "summary executions/extrajudicial
killings of prisoners and detainees", which it said may constitute a
war crime.
MALIKI SAYS STAYING PUT
Of the 2,400 people killed in June, 1,531 were civilians, the U.N.
said earlier this month.
The report called on the government to investigate serious
violations and to hold the perpetrators to account. But the capacity
of the Shi'ite-led caretaker government to do so in the face of a
Sunni uprising that threatens to fracture the country on sectarian
and ethnic lines may be limited.
Iraqi politicians have yet to complete the formation of a new
government more than three months after parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces pressure from Sunnis, Kurds and
some Shi'ites to step aside after two terms in office in which his
critics say he marginalized opponents.
In an interview published on Friday, Maliki, whose Shi'ite State of
Law bloc won the most seats in parliament, reiterated his
determination to form the next government.
"In free and democratic elections, we won the most votes and the
constitution says that the leader of the strongest faction forms the
government, so I want to run again for the post of prime minister in
parliament," Maliki said in an interview with German mass-selling
daily Bild.
He said some groups were trying to bypass the election result: "But
we insist that the opinion and decision of the people be respected,
and we won't make any compromises at the expense of the people and
the legitimacy of the state."
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As well as a new prime minister, parliament must agree on a likely
replacement for President Jalal Talabani, who has been in Germany
for treatment since suffering a stroke in December.
Talabani's office said he will fly back to Iraq on Saturday.
Although the presidency is a largely symbolic role, Talabani was
widely seen as a unifying figure, both within Iraq and his own
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party, which has struggled to
contain internal divisions without him at the helm.
This week the PUK's Najmaldin Karim, who is also governor of Kirkuk,
submitted his candidacy for president without the blessing of party
leaders, sources said, challenging Barham Saleh, who had been touted
as frontrunner for the position.
In the first, silent footage to be broadcast of him earlier this
year, Talabani appeared much weakened, suggesting he is unlikely to
be able to resume an active role in politics.
Parliament is due to meet next Wednesday for the next session of
talks on choosing a political leadership to tackle the conflict,
which has displaced more than 1 million people this year, according
to the United Nations.
Uprooted by the violence, the displaced live in "cruel and
difficult" conditions, the country's top Shi'ite cleric said in
Friday sermon, criticizing Iraqi and international agencies for
ignoring their plight.
"The institutions concerned with this are still not meeting the
scale of the hardships and suffering, despite the promises that we
heard of help," Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said in a sermon
delivered by an aide the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala.
Security sources and witnesses said fighting continued on Friday in
several towns north of Baghdad. Near the military base at Muqdadiya,
50 miles (80 km) north of the capital, militants blew up a bridge to
prevent Kurdish Shi'ite tribes bringing reinforcements to confront
them, they said.
(Additional reporting by Isabel Coles in Arbil, Raheem Salmana and
Isra' al-Rube'i in Baghdad and Michelle Martin in Berlin; Editing by
Hugh Lawson)
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