Mosul Today: Civilians on the move as Mosul fight progresses

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces moved more than 1,000 people out of villages near Mosul that were recently retaken from the Islamic State group for their safety, officials said Wednesday, as witnesses and Iraqi commanders said the militants have driven hundreds of civilians into the city, using them as human shields.

Witnesses and Iraqi commanders tell The Associated Press that IS is withdrawing from villages south of Mosul, taking civilians with them to use as human shields and leaving behind explosive booby-traps to slow the advancing troops.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says Iraqi forces found the bodies of 70 civilians who were shot dead in a village south of Mosul and that IS killed 50 former Iraqi police officers they were holding near the city.