ISIS 'executes' 232 and takes 'thousands as human shields', UN says

ISIS has "executed" 232 people near Mosul and taken tens of thousands of people to use as human shields against advancing Iraqi forces, the UN says.

A spokeswoman for the UN's human rights arm told CNN that the terror group had carried out the mass killings on Wednesday, punishing people who had defied its orders.

"On Wednesday ISIS executed 42 civilians in Hammam al-Alil, a town south of Mosul. Also on Wednesday ISIS executed 190 former Iraqi Security Forces for refusing to join them, in the Al Ghazlani base near Mosul," said Ravina Shamdasani, of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Since October 17, ISIS had taken "tens of thousands" of men, women and children from the outskirts of Mosul into the city. Shamdasani said the UN feared the intention was "to use them as human shields against the Iraqi forces advance on Mosul.”