1st LD: Iraqi court sentences 24 people to death for killing hundreds of Iraqi soldiers

An Iraqi court on Wednesday sentenced 24 defendants to death penalty over charges of killing about 1,700 soldiers when the Islamic State (IS) militants seized the city of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin province, in June 2014, judicial spokesman said.

"The Central Criminal Court issued a verdict on Wednesday to execute 24 defendants by hanging after proved they were involved in Speicher massacre," said Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council.

The defendants were found guilty as the evidences were enough for their conviction, Biraqdar said, adding that the court also released four other defendants for lack of evidences.

In June 2014, armed Sunni insurgents, spearheaded by IS group, an al-Qaida offshoot, launched a surprise offensive on Iraqi security forces and captured a large part of the country's northern and western territories after Iraqi troops abandoned their posts and military equipment.

Reports said that among dozens of thousands of soldiers who abandoned their bases in June, there were some 1,700 soldiers who walked out of an air base, known as Camp Speicher in north of Tikrit, were abducted and killed by the extremist IS militants.

The IS group later posted video tapes and images showing its gunmen loading dozens of soldiers in civil uniforms in several trucks and forced them to lay on their faces and opened fire on them. Some were shown dragged to the edge of the Tigris River and threw them in the water after putting a shot in their heads. Endit