International

The bloody battle for Mosul took a deadly turn Friday as cowardly jihadists executed at least 284 innocent people.

ISIS militants rounded up men and boys from villages near the northern Iraqi city and shot them before dumping their corpses in a mass grave using a bulldozer, CNN reported, citing an Iraqi intelligence source.

The barbaric move followed a dire and eerily prescient warning from the United Nations about the lengths that the militant group would go to as Iraqi forces close in on the ISIS stronghold.

Earlier in the week, Islamic radicals abducted 550 families and moved them to strategic locations in the city, said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The terrorist tactic — intended to deter air strikes — came as the extremist fighters offered deadly resistance, unleashing a wave of snipers, suicide bombers, and a trail of hidden explosives as Iraqi forces made their way toward the city.

“We know (ISIS) has no regard for human life, which is why it is incumbent upon the Iraqi government to do its utmost to protect civilians,” Zeid said.

The UN had “verified information” that ISIS forced residents from the nearby villages of Samalia and Najafia into Mosul earlier in the week, part of an “apparent policy of preventing civilians from escaping to areas controlled by Iraqi security forces.”On top of the disturbing number of dead reported Friday, Zeid said his office was also investigating reports that the group had killed at least 40 civilians for suspected disloyalty.