The ISIS killed 284 men and boys as Iraqi-led coalition forces closed in on Mosul, the terror group's last major stronghold in Iraq.
According to an Iraqi intelligence source, those killed Thursday and Friday were used as human shields against attacks forcing the ISIS out of southern parts of Mosul, reports the CNN.
The terror group then dumped the corpses in a mass grave at the defunct College of Agriculture in northern Mosul.
The Iraqi military launched a large offensive early Saturday to retake Hamdaniya, also known as Qaraqosh, from the ISIS.
The city is about 15 kilometers southeast of Mosul.
Reportedly, the Iraqi troops entered the al-Askary neighborhood and liberated the mayor's building and the main hospital, raising the Iraqi flag over those buildings.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said on Saturday that the Iraqi troops are also advancing toward Tal Kayf and plan on storming the Chaldean town. Tal Kayf is about 10 kilometers north of Mosul.
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