Amnesty International: ISIS assisted by "reckless" transfer of arms to Iraq

We reap what we sow might be apt for the findings of Amnesty International into how ISIS came to possess so may arms.

"Decades of irresponsible arms transfers to Iraq fuelled the Islamic State (IS) group's firepower and ability to carry out atrocities on a massive scale, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday.

The London-based human rights watchdog called for tougher controls in order to put a stop to the alarming fallout from the proliferation of weapons in the country.

"The vast and varied weaponry being used by the armed group calling itself Islamic State is a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale," Amnesty researcher Patrick Wilcken said in a statement.

"Poor regulation and lack of oversight of the immense arms flows into Iraq going back decades have given IS and other armed groups a bonanza of unprecedented access to firepower," he said.

The huge amounts of internationally manufactured weapons IS seized when it took Iraq's second city Mosul in June 2014 were used to take over other parts of the country and commit crimes against civilians, the report said.

Besides its massive haul in Mosul, the jihadist organisation also captured vast quantities of military equipment when it seized army and police bases in Fallujah, Tikrit, Saqlawiya, and Ramadi as well as in Syria."

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