Despite being the religious majority in Iraq , Shia Muslims have been killed in large numbers by ISIL . On 12 June 2014 , ISIL killed 1,700 unarmed Shia Iraqi Army cadet recruits in the Camp Speicher massacre . ISIL has also targeted Shia prisoners . According to witnesses , after the militant group took the city of Mosul , they divided the Sunni prisoners from the Shia prisoners . Up to 670 Shia prisoners were then taken to another location and executed . Kurdish officials in Erbil reported on the incident of Sunni and Shia prisoners being separated and Shia prisoners being killed after the Mosul prison fell to ISIL
Camp Speicher massacre
Camp Speicher massacre
Persecution of Shias by ISIL