16 June 2014
Last updated at 19:07 ET
Her remarks came as the militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), were reported to have seized the strategic city of Tal Afar.
The rebels occupied several key cities last week, but some towns were retaken.
Security in Baghdad has been stepped up after the insurgents threatened to march on the capital.
Reports are emerging that an army helicopter has been shot down in fierce clashes near the city of Fallujah, located just 70km (45 miles) west of Baghdad.
President Barack Obama says the United States is deploying up to 275 military personnel to Iraq to protect American interests there.
Analysis: Jim Muir, BBC News, Irbil
Iran said it was ready to assist Iraq in its battle against ISIS insurgents, seen here in Nineveh
One reason Tal Afar was important for the government to hold
was that the city was the state's only outpost in the entire province of
Nineveh, which fell to the Sunni militants last week as the army
collapsed.
It is also strategically significant, straddling the main highway from Mosul, the provincial capital, to the Syrian border.
However, assuming Tal Afar has indeed fallen to the militants, it does not mean they have a direct link to Syria - the border crossing at Rabia is controlled on the eastern side by Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and on the western side by the Popular Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is fiercely hostile to ISIS.
Tal Afar is important for other reasons too. Most of the areas through which the Sunni militants swept last week were largely Sunni populated. Tal Afar has a big Shia community, from the Turkmen minority, perhaps one reason why it held out longer than any other town in Nineveh.
Some observers believe it is important for Iran - which sees itself as the custodian of the Shia - that Tal Afar should not be allowed to fall, and that they would sooner or later wreak revenge, especially if abuses were committed during or after its capture.
Lightning advance Ms Pillay said the UN had evidence from its own human rights monitors in Iraq that non-combatants had been summarily executed over the past five days, including members of the security forces who had surrendered or been captured.
Her comments came after Sunni militants posted photos online appearing to show fighters massacring Iraqi soldiers.
In a video circulated online, ISIS fighters were also seen taunting captured troops with threats of decapitation.
The Iraqi military earlier said the pictures were real, but their authenticity has not been independently confirmed. The US condemned them as "horrifying".
The insurgents' lightning advance began last week with their capture of the cities of Mosul and Tikrit.
Fighting in Tal Afar began on Sunday, with mortar shelling of some districts as the militants tried to enter the city in Nineveh province.
Tal Afar, which has a mixed Sunni and Shia population, lies between Mosul and the Syrian border.
The city of 200,000 people was taken just before dawn on Monday, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul told the Associated Press news agency.
Eyewitnesses said militants in pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns and flying black jihadist banners were roaming the streets as gunfire rang out.
ISIS supporters have taken to the streets in the recently captured city of Mosul
In
Baghdad members of Shia community also took to the streets in protest against ISIS
The Iraqi army has been in training in preparation for a fight back against ISIS
Security has been noticeably stepped up in the capital, Baghdad
Hundreds of Iraqi volunteers have signed up for military service in recent days
Tribal fighters, like these in Diyala province, have also joined Iraqi forces in the battle against the militants
But the government insists it still largely controls the town
and that ISIS fighters would be swiftly dealt with, says the BBC's Jim
Muir in northern Iraq.
The government also announced it had "regained the initiative" against an offensive by Sunni rebels.
The defence ministry released footage on Monday which it said was of air strikes on ISIS targets north of Baghdad, including Mosul and Samarra provinces.
Government forces were also reported to be building up in the
city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, for a counter-offensive on Tikrit.
Iranian co-operation? The US earlier announced it might use drone strikes to halt the ISIS advance.
The Pentagon said US officials were also open to holding direct talks with Iran over Iraq, but there was "no plan to co-ordinate military activity" between the two countries.
Fighters said to be from ISIS are seen in Salahuddin province where they allegedly massacred Iraqi soldiers
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he would consider co-operation if the US took action.
The USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier has already been deployed to the Gulf, accompanied by two more warships. But Washington says no US troops will be deployed on the ground.
Britain reiterated on Monday that it had no plans for military intervention in Iraq.
The US has begun evacuating some diplomatic staff from Baghdad, moving them to Kurdish-controlled territory in the north-east and to Basra in the south.
The UN confirmed it had also moved 58 of its personnel from Baghdad to Amman in neighbouring Jordan, adding that more relocations were possible.
An estimated 500,000 people have been displaced internally as a result of recent fighting in Mosul.
ISIS in Iraq
Iraq conflict: Militants 'may have committed war crimes', says UN
Iraqi forces have hit back with air strikes near Tal Afar as the BBC's John Simpson reports
Sunni
insurgents in northern Iraq have carried out summary executions of
hundreds of captured soldiers, the UN's human rights chief says.
The systematic killings "almost certainly amounted to war crimes," according to Navi Pillay.Her remarks came as the militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), were reported to have seized the strategic city of Tal Afar.
The rebels occupied several key cities last week, but some towns were retaken.
Security in Baghdad has been stepped up after the insurgents threatened to march on the capital.
Reports are emerging that an army helicopter has been shot down in fierce clashes near the city of Fallujah, located just 70km (45 miles) west of Baghdad.
President Barack Obama says the United States is deploying up to 275 military personnel to Iraq to protect American interests there.
Iran said it was ready to assist Iraq in its battle against ISIS insurgents, seen here in Nineveh
It is also strategically significant, straddling the main highway from Mosul, the provincial capital, to the Syrian border.
However, assuming Tal Afar has indeed fallen to the militants, it does not mean they have a direct link to Syria - the border crossing at Rabia is controlled on the eastern side by Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and on the western side by the Popular Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is fiercely hostile to ISIS.
Tal Afar is important for other reasons too. Most of the areas through which the Sunni militants swept last week were largely Sunni populated. Tal Afar has a big Shia community, from the Turkmen minority, perhaps one reason why it held out longer than any other town in Nineveh.
Some observers believe it is important for Iran - which sees itself as the custodian of the Shia - that Tal Afar should not be allowed to fall, and that they would sooner or later wreak revenge, especially if abuses were committed during or after its capture.
Lightning advance Ms Pillay said the UN had evidence from its own human rights monitors in Iraq that non-combatants had been summarily executed over the past five days, including members of the security forces who had surrendered or been captured.
Her comments came after Sunni militants posted photos online appearing to show fighters massacring Iraqi soldiers.
In a video circulated online, ISIS fighters were also seen taunting captured troops with threats of decapitation.
The Iraqi military earlier said the pictures were real, but their authenticity has not been independently confirmed. The US condemned them as "horrifying".
The images appear to show captured Iraqi soldiers
in civilian clothes being led away by militants, as the BBC's John
Simpson reports
Fighting in Tal Afar began on Sunday, with mortar shelling of some districts as the militants tried to enter the city in Nineveh province.
Tal Afar, which has a mixed Sunni and Shia population, lies between Mosul and the Syrian border.
The city of 200,000 people was taken just before dawn on Monday, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul told the Associated Press news agency.
Eyewitnesses said militants in pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns and flying black jihadist banners were roaming the streets as gunfire rang out.
ISIS supporters have taken to the streets in the recently captured city of Mosul
In Baghdad members of Shia community also took to the streets in protest against ISIS
The Iraqi army has been in training in preparation for a fight back against ISIS
Security has been noticeably stepped up in the capital, Baghdad
Hundreds of Iraqi volunteers have signed up for military service in recent days
Tribal fighters, like these in Diyala province, have also joined Iraqi forces in the battle against the militants
The government also announced it had "regained the initiative" against an offensive by Sunni rebels.
The defence ministry released footage on Monday which it said was of air strikes on ISIS targets north of Baghdad, including Mosul and Samarra provinces.
Footage released by the Iraqi Ministry of Defence is said to show strikes on ISIS targets north of Baghdad on Sunday
Iranian co-operation? The US earlier announced it might use drone strikes to halt the ISIS advance.
The Pentagon said US officials were also open to holding direct talks with Iran over Iraq, but there was "no plan to co-ordinate military activity" between the two countries.
Fighters said to be from ISIS are seen in Salahuddin province where they allegedly massacred Iraqi soldiers
The USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier has already been deployed to the Gulf, accompanied by two more warships. But Washington says no US troops will be deployed on the ground.
Britain reiterated on Monday that it had no plans for military intervention in Iraq.
The US has begun evacuating some diplomatic staff from Baghdad, moving them to Kurdish-controlled territory in the north-east and to Basra in the south.
The UN confirmed it had also moved 58 of its personnel from Baghdad to Amman in neighbouring Jordan, adding that more relocations were possible.
An estimated 500,000 people have been displaced internally as a result of recent fighting in Mosul.
- The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has 3,000 to 5,000 fighters, and grew out of an al-Qaeda-linked organisation in Iraq
- Joined in its offensives by other Sunni militant groups, including Saddam-era officers and soldiers, and disaffected Sunni tribal fighters
- ISIS has exploited the standoff between the Iraqi government and the minority Sunni Arab community, which complains that Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is monopolising power
- The organisation is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an obscure figure regarded as a battlefield commander and tactician
Struggle for Iraq
-
Lightning offensives by jihadist militants have pushed Iraq to the brink of break-up - but how has it happened so quickly?The end of Iraq?
-
US strike would be turning point
-
Maps illustrate conflict
-
Who are ISIS?
-
Maliki under pressure
-
A boost for Kurdish aims?
-
Six steps to disaster
-
Mosul takeover
-
How to recover Mosul?
-
Profile: ISIS leader
-
Bloodshed and strife
-
Maliki - Iraq's shrewd operator
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered