Massacre in Iraq

Militant group ISIS posted photos online that appear to show its fighters shooting dead dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers in a province north of the capital Baghdad. (Associated Press)
          

    

 Baghdad citizens prepare for fight

Preparing to defend Baghdad

Large crowds of volunteers have joined the Iraqi army parade in Baghdad

The Islamic militants who overran cities and towns in Iraq last week posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers, while the prime minister vowed Sunday to "liberate every inch" of captured territory.

The pictures on a militant website appear to show masked fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs. The final images show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot at several locations.  Chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the photos' authenticity and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by ISIS. Captions on the photos showing the soldiers after they were shot say "hundreds have been liquidated," but the total could not immediately be verified.  U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the ISIS militants' claim of killing the Iraqi troops "is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that those terrorists represent." She added that a claim that 1,700 were killed could not be confirmed by the U.S. On Friday, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay  said the number killed in recent days may run into the hundreds. She said in a statement that her office had received reports that militants rounded up and killed Iraqi soldiers as well as 17 civilians in a single street in Mosul. Her office also heard of "summary executions and extrajudicial killings" after ISIS militants overran Iraqi cities and towns.

This image posted on a militant website appears to show militants from the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leading away captured Iraqi soldiers in Tikrit, Iraq. (The Associated Press)

The grisly images could sap the morale of Iraq's security forces, but they could also heighten sectarian tensions. Thousands of Shias are already heeding a call from their most revered spiritual leader to take up arms against the Sunni militants who have swept across the north in the worst instability in Iraq since the U.S. withdrawal in 2011.

ISIS has vowed to take the battle to Baghdad and cities farther south housing revered Shia shrines.