United Nations officials said they have received a report that the militant group Islamic State has ordered female genital mutilation in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Jacqueline Badcock, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, said they learned that the Islamic State had issued a decree, or fatwa, requiring women from 11 to 46 years old to undergo genital mutilation.

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However, several observers said the fatwa may have been a hoax.

According to Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, the U.N. appeared to be citing a "quite clearly faked statement" that made the rounds on the Internet on Wednesday.

BBC News said there were typo and language mistakes in the statement and that some bloggers suspected it was aimed at discrediting the Islamic State.

Further casting doubt on the alleged fatwa, Lister pointed out that female genital mutilation was not consistent with the Islamic State's image.

In Geneva, a U.N. spokesman said colleagues in Iraq were gathering facts to verify reports on the Islamic State.

The Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Greater Syria (ISIS), has overtaken many areas in Iraq since June and has been imposing its strict interpretation of Islam in cities under its control.

The militants have declared Mosul as the capital of its Islamic state.

According to Badcock, only a small number of Christians are still in Mosul. Most have reportedly sought refuge in Kurdish-controlled territory in the north.

Badcock said some Christians in Mosul have converted to Islam, while others have agreed to pay taxes to the Sharia court in return for permission to stay in the city.

If it is confirmed that ISIS has indeed ordered female genital mutilation, approximately four million Iraqi girls and women could be affected, according to Baddock.

She noted that female genital mutilation is not common in Iraq and is only observed in "certain isolated pockets of the country."

TagsIraq militants, ISIS, Genital mutilation