Iraq Executes 36 Convicted Islamic State Gunmen

Iraq executed 36 men convicted of taking part in a massacre by Islamic State of hundreds of Iraqi soldiers in 2014, according to Iraqi officials. The men were hanged at the Nasiriyah prison in southern Iraq. In 2014, Islamic State captured an estimated 1700 soldiers after seizing Tikrit, longtime Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s hometown. The soldiers were trying to flee from Camp Speicher, a former US base just outside Tikrit. After taking over the city, Islamic State posted pictures of Islamic State gunmen shooting hundreds of the Iraqi soldiers dead after forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch. The executions come as the Iraqi government has taken back some of the territory controlled by Islamic State and is preparing for an all-out assault on Mosul, which they still control.