Images relating to the resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), a group reconstituted from an earlier incarnation of al Qaeda in Iraq. Iraqi soldiers say they are bogged down in a slow, vicious fight with ISIL and other Sunni. Iraqi soldiers describe a hellish world in which Iraqi forces are running low on tank shells, lack aerial cover, are short of armoured vehicles, and have been hit by high casualties and desertion rates. More than 380,000 people have fled their homes to escape the fighting, according to the United Nations.

Sunni militants regularly post videos and photos of executions and torture of government troops. Now, according to the police officer, an army officer, a general and an Iraqi Special Forces member, some Iraqi troops have begun replying in kind, carrying out extra-judicial executions, torture and humiliations of their enemy and posting images of the results online.