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Human Rights Watch says Iraq militants executed at least 160 captive troops, based on analysis
• BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqi insurgents executed at least 160 captives earlier this month in the northern city of Tikrit, Human Rights Watch said Friday, citing an analysis of satellite imagery and grisly photos released by the militants.
• The U.S.-based rights group said militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killed between 160 and 190 men in two locations in Tikrit between June 11 and June 14. "The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation," it said.
• After overrunning large swaths of northern Iraq and capturing the cities of Mosul and Tikrit earlier this month, the Islamic extremist group posted graphic photos on a militant website that appeared to show fighters loading dozens of captured soldiers onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie in a shallow ditch with their hands tied behind their backs. A final set of photos shows bodies.
• "The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further investigation," Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
• Chief Iraqi military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the photos' authenticity on June 15, after they first surfaced, and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by the Islamic State.
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Tourist who survived New York City plague diagnosis years ago has died of unrelated illness
• A man who nearly lost his life in New York City's first instance of bubonic plague in more than 100 years has died of an unrelated illness in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, hospital, his wife said Thursday.
• John Tull was diagnosed with a rare cancer last month, but doctors didn't believe it was connected to his previous health struggles, said Lucinda Marker, his wife. Tull was 65 when he died Wednesday.
• In November 2002, the New Mexico couple was on vacation in the Big Apple when both came down with flu-like symptoms including a fever and swollen lymph nodes. They were diagnosed with the plague, an exceedingly rare disease that wiped out a third of Europe in the 14th century. It was considered New York's first (Continued on page 27)
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