The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, militants have killed hundreds of members of an Iraqi tribe in western Anbar province, including dozens of women and children whose bodies were dumped in a well, according to Iraqi government officials.
The systematic killings marked some of the worst bloodshed in Iraq since ISIL swept through the north in June with the aim of establishing a caliphate across Iraq and Syria.
The United States strongly condemns the brutal actions that ISIL continues to perpetrate against the Iraqi people. One of the primary goals of ISIL is to sow fear into the hearts of all Iraqis and drive sectarian division among its people. The U.S. condemns these attacks in the strongest possible terms and stands in solidarity with the Iraqi people.
The depravity of the reported executions of the Sunni tribesmen from the Albu Nimr tribe, and other Anbar tribes, reports of mass executions of Shiite prisoners in Mosul, the reports of a mass grave outside of Ramadi, and the continued persecution of other Iraqi minority groups, are further evidence of ISIL’s campaign of terror. Those individuals responsible for these horrendous acts of violence must be identified and held fully accountable.
ISIL members are murderers and terrorists, who bleed the country they occupy. It should also be clear that ISIL is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq, but a threat to the entire region. The international community, including prominent Islamic religious leaders, continues to condemn and reject ISIL’s unrelenting depravity and twisted ideology.
To stop ISIL’s campaign of terror against the Syrian and Iraqi people, the United States remains steadfast in its efforts to work with the Iraqi Government and regional partners and lead the international coalition to degrade and defeat ISIL. The United States will do its part to help Iraq move beyond this crisis and urges all Iraqis to unite against this violence and continue to reject the path of hatred that ISIL represents.
