By mid June 2014 , Tikrit was overrun by the militant group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ) . Iraqi Air Force cadets reported that many of the camp 's officers fled as ISIS approached , and , as a result , several thousand Shia cadets and other personnel abandoned their uniforms and began to walk toward Baghdad . Several miles from the camp , they were confronted and taken prisoners by approximately fifty ISIL militants in armored vehicles . Following their capture , about 1,700 were killed in mass shooting executions . A video released by ISIL in July showed the executions done in several locations including shooting the cadets in trenches and then throwing the bodies in the River Tigris . In early September , corpses were seen floating on the surface . Very few managed to escape unharmed and survive
mass shooting executions
Camp Speicher massacre
Camp Speicher