ISIS Executes 12 Shi’ite Militiamen North of Baghdad

ISIS has captured and executed 12 Shi’ite militia fighters after a Saturday attack on a police station on the outskirts of Balad, just 50 miles north of the capital city of Baghdad.

ISIS had been using the police station as their base, and they were ousted by a combination of Iraqi forces and militia fighters Friday. The fighters stayed inside the base though, and ISIS surrounded it on Saturday, leading to a protracted fight.

In addition to the 12 confirmed slain, Iraqi officials say that 10 other militia fighters are believed to be missing, and their fate is at present uncertain.

After ISIS routed the Iraqi Army in Mosul, the nation has increasingly relied on militias to do the heavy lifting in fights with ISIS. The Shi’ite militias have at times been harsh occupiers to the Sunni towns they are “liberating,” and in some cases the locals have backed ISIS rather than see their towns fall back to militia hands.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.