A video showing Iraqi soldiers killing a boy who allegedly fought with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Tikrit emerged earlier this week.

The child, believed to be 11 years old, was captured in the Diyala Province. In the video, the Iraqi soldiers are heard shooting the boy to death at a very close range.

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Mustafa Saadoun, the director of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the authenticity of the video. He also called out the military for its barbaric treatment of the boy in the footage.

Echoing the Iraqi law and other international laws, Saadoun said no one has the right to kill a minor even if he took part of operations against the army or the public in general. The execution of the kid is not justifiable and he should have been arrested and put on trial instead of being killed right away, he added.

ISIS militants have taken hold of Tikrit in June but they were driven out during a recent major operation. Earlier this week, the jihadists attacked the Tikrit in an effort to regain control over it.

The United Nations (UN) urged military forces to be careful when carrying out their missions in order to lessen the number of civilian casualties. Nickolay Mladenov of the UN said that this is to uphold the fundamental human rights principles and law.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International senior crisis response adviser Donatella Rovera cautioned that civilians in the area are at great risk as there are around 30,0000 security forces including the Shiite militia and Sunni tribal fighters who attack Sunni civilians who are not even involved with the war.

"We are concerned about the possible recurrence and increase of such attacks in the ongoing operations," Rovera shares.

According to reports, there were around 70 Sunni villagers killed by Shiite fighters in the last major operation in the area. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi pointed out that anyone not participating in the war should be regarded as a civilian and be protected from any form of attack.  

Rovera, however, said the Iraqi government should be penalized because it had failed to protect its civilians when ISIS took over the town and other villages.

TagsTikrit, Video, ISIS, Iraq, execution, boy