Rights group says ban militias with record of abuses from Mosul battle

Iraqi soldiers launch artillery toward Islamic State militants on the outskirt of the Makhmour south of Mosul, Iraq, March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi military commanders should prevent militias with records of serious abuses from taking part in a planned offensive on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, campaign group Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.

The battle for Mosul, the ultra-hardline militants' de facto capital in Iraq and the largest city anywhere in their self-proclaimed caliphate, is expected later this year but plans have not been finalised, officials and diplomats in Baghdad say.