Shiite militias, Kurdish forces continue advance against IS in Iraq

After breaking the two-month siege of Amerli by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, Shiite militias and Kurdish forces are resuming their advance against the jihadist group.

Following an offensive near Amerli, the IS was forced to withdraw from the region.

Meanwhile Amnesty International says that it has received new evidence that Islamic State have launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the north, the BBC reports.

Amnesty's Donatella Rovera said the Islamic State (IS) is carrying out despicable crimes and has transformed rural areas of the northern region of Sinjar into blood-soaked killing fields in its brutal campaign to obliterate all trace of non-Arabs and non-Sunni Muslims, the report added.

The United Nations have announced that the organization would send investigators to Iraq to inspect the crimes being committed by Islamic State militants on 'an unimaginable scale' against civilians.

U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri said that there were reports of extreme torture and acts of inhumanity being done by the IS militants.

The UN also claimed that the officials would hold the convicts accountable, reported the Huffington Post.

Iraq's human rights minister said that they were facing extreme atrocities under IS militants.

The United Nations would send 11 investigators who are to report back by the month of March.

The Islamic State has seized swathes of land in Iraq and Syria in the recent months that has lead 1.2 million people to flee from homes, said the UN authorities.