Iraqi Diplomat: ISIS May Be Harvesting Organs

Reports raise fears group is selling body parts to fund itself
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2015 12:48 PM CST
Iraqi Diplomat: ISIS May Be Harvesting Organs
In this Tuesday, Oct . 7, 2014 file photo, Iraqi security forces hold a flag of the Islamic State group they captured during an operation outside Amirli, Iraq.   (AP Photo, File)

On the heels of a report that ISIS burned 45 to death comes yet another claim of brutality. The Iraqi ambassador to the UN is calling for an investigation of reports that the terrorist group has been harvesting organs to fund itself, the AP reports. Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim referred to reported discoveries of bodies marked by incisions. "We have bodies. Come and examine them," he told the UN. "It is clear they are missing certain parts." A dozen doctors who have turned down calls to perform the surgeries have been executed, Alhakim said. One report comes from Al-Monitor, a Middle East outlet, Antiviral reports. That report cites a doctor describing organ harvesting among "fallen fighters," injured and abandoned people, and kidnap victims.

The UN's outgoing Iraq envoy, Nikolay Mladenov, acknowledged a growing number of such reports. "It's very clear that the tactics (ISIS) is using expand by the day," he said. But Antiviral notes that evidence of organ harvesting isn't "conclusive." Meanwhile, Alkahim noted that the group's attacks on specific ethnic groups amount to "crimes of genocide," with Mladenov adding that he is especially worried by "the increasing number of reports of revenge attacks committed particularly against members of the Sunni community in areas liberated from (ISIS) control." Mladenov said 790 people were killed last month amid terrorism and fighting, Fox News reports. (More ISIS stories.)

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