Related:

March 2015, Human Rights Watch: After Liberation Came Destruction: Iraqi Militias and the Aftermath of Amerli (PDF)

18 March 2015, NYT: After ISIS Retreats in Iraq, Evidence of Shiite Retaliation

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/middleeast/iraq-looting.html

MARCH 18, 2015

Iraqi Forces and Militias Said to Loot Sunni Towns

By ANNE BARNARD

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi militias and security forces destroyed and looted the property of displaced Sunni civilians after reclaiming the town of Amerli from Islamic State militants last year, according to a Human Rights Watch report issued Wednesday.

The victorious forces, which took back the territory with the help of American-led airstrikes, carried out raids in Amerli and dozens of nearby villages in Salahuddin and Kirkuk Provinces, the report said, [1] citing 24 witnesses, including tribal leaders and Kurdish pesh merga fighters, as well as evidence from videos, satellite images and field visits.

"The Iraqi government should rein in the militias," the rights group said in a statement. [2] "Countries participating in the fight against ISIS, including the United States and Iran, should ensure military operations and other related support in the fight against ISIS are not paving the way for such abuses."

The report highlights the risks of United States cooperation with groups like the militias, as well as with Iraq's official security forces, elements of which have also been accused of abuses.

At the same time, in the battle against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, the United States has been left with few options after much of the American-trained Iraqi Army fell apart as militants swept into the country.

A similar lineup of militias and security forces is in the third week of an offensive to retake the [3] city of Tikrit. The pro-government forces have surrounded Islamic State militants in the city center and have retaken villages around the city.

United States officials have expressed concerns [4] that the new offensive could worsen sectarian tensions, with primarily Shiite militias taking over a Sunni area where militants killed [5] more than 1,000 Shiite soldiers last year.

Shiite militias have been accused of revenge killings in Diyala Province, and leading Shiite clerics and others have called on them to avoid abuses and attacks on villages where the Islamic State has taken control.

During the current Tikrit offensive, video clips from the town of Albu Ajeel, where many militiamen believe villagers aided in the massacre, showed burning shops and buildings and a uniformed man declaring, "Burn them, burn them." Few residents appear to have returned.

By contrast, in the town of Alam, where the Sunni Jabouri tribe has backed the offensive by sending men to join the militias, there have been scenes of jubilation as residents and militiamen celebrated together.

The report on the Amerli attacks did not accuse the militias of killing civilians, but it documented the abductions of 11 civilians and quoted residents as saying more were missing.

Witnesses described militiamen removing televisions, clothing and refrigerators, and sometimes stripping houses of electrical wire, before burning the dwellings. Kurdish pesh merga leaders who had allied themselves with the mainly Shiite militias said they had seen 47 villages in which houses had been pillaged and public buildings and mosques destroyed.

[1] http://hrw.org/node/133417

[2] http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/18/iraq-militia-attacks-destroy-villages-displace-thousands

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/world/middleeast/isis-ramadi-tikrit-iraqi-army.html

[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/world/middleeast/iraq-drive-against-isis-reveals-tensions-with-us.html

[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/world/middleeast/iraq.html