The South Sudanese Army and rebel forces committed “extraordinary acts of cruelty” and should be prosecuted for war crimes, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Islamic State (IS) has captured the largest Christian city in Iraq, while edging closer to the border with Kurdistan.

Qaraqosh, home to around 50,000 Christians fell to the militants on Thursday, after Kurdish peshmerga forces withdrew from the city in Nineveh.

“The warring parties in Tripoli and Benghazi have displayed a wanton disregard for the safety of ordinary civilians who have found themselves mercilessly pinned down by indiscriminate shelling with imprecise weapons that should never be used in populated areas.”

“All sides in both these conflicts have an absolute obligation under international law not to target attacks against civilians.”

2nd lead

A senior Foreign Office minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, resigned on Tuesday, in protest at the UK government's policy regarding the Gaza conflict.

Warsi said in her resignation letter to Prime Minister David Cameron that the government’s “approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain’s national interest and will have a long term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically”.

She said the UK’s stance was “not consistent with the rule of law and our long support for international justice”, adding that “the British government can only play a constructive role in solving the Middle East crisis if it is an honest broker and at the moment I do not think it is.”

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Warsi called for a halt in arms exports to Israel.

“It appalls me that the British government continues to allow the sale of weapons to a country, Israel, that has killed almost 2,000 people, including hundreds of kids, in the past four weeks alone. The arms exports to Israel must stop,” Warsi said.

“Our position not to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN in November 2012 placed us on the wrong side of history and is something I deeply regret not speaking out against at the time,” she added.

The deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, added to the growing criticism of Israel's offensive into Gaza, calling for arms export licenses to the country to be suspended.

Israel had "overstepped the mark," said Clegg.

The Nigerian Army committed atrocities during its operations against Boko Haram militants in the country’s north-east, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Gruesome footage, obtained by the human rights group, appears to show extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations, by individuals who appear to be members of the Nigerian army and the “Civilian Joint Task Force” (CJTF), state-sponsored militias.

AI in a statement that called for an “immediate, independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the pattern of serious and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all sides”.

Nigeria's Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, said that senior officers and forensic experts will investigate the footage "in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts".

“This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling crimes being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict. Nigerians deserve better – what does it say when members of the military carry out such unspeakable acts and capture the images on film?” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.