HRW: Iraq security forces and police involved in August massacre at a Sunni mosque in Diyala

According to HRW witnesses the massacre was basically broadcast live thru the mosque's loudspeaker but there was no response from the nearby Iraqi army and police checkpoints.

Iraq's descent into an all-out sectarian war would not only ruin the US plan to contain ISIS. The perception that US warplanes provide air cover for a Shia genocide of Sunnis in Iraq/Syria may put at risk the governments of some Sunni members of the anti-ISIS coalition.


# CNN 
By Chelsea J. Carter and Raja Razek () {

Date = November 2, 2014

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Victims of the massacre "by Iraqi pro-government militias and security forces recognized the attackers and knew them by name," the report said. Some wore Iraqi police uniforms, according to the report.

The rights group called on the government to make public details of its findings into the attack, which HRW said was consistent with a pattern of killings being carried out in Iraq by Shiite militias, including al Haq, the Badr Brigades and Kataib Hezbollah.

"Pro-government militias are becoming emboldened and their crimes more shocking," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW.

HRW called on the United States and its allies to stop providing Iraq "with military support and assistance until the government ensures that such widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity have ended," the rights group said.

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"Don't move. No one leave," a gunman wearing a dark green T-shirt and a headband typically worn by militiamen affiliated with Asaib al-Haq, the survivor said.

"He aimed his first shot at the sheikh, and then he continued shooting the rest of us. When I heard the first gunshot, I dropped to the ground," the survivor said.

The attack, according to witnesses, was carried out in two stages, with gunmen opening fire inside the mosque and then shooting would-be rescuers outside.

"The witnesses said there was an army checkpoint about 200 meters (656 feet) from the mosque and a police checkpoint about 150 meters from the mosque, but that no security forces responded to the attack even though the shooting was broadcast over the mosque loudspeaker," the report said.

Witnesses testified the shooting carried over the loudspeaker could be heard at a distance of at least 600 meters (1,969 feet), it said.

Source = http://t.co/rxyqxwtIR5 }

Video = HRW interviews survivors of the massacre at a Sunni mosque in Diyala Iraq