BAGHDAD: Iraq's Interior Ministry says it has launched an investigation into allegations of human rights violations perpetrated by its forces fighting ISIS in Mosul.

The allegations were first reported by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine last weekend.

The ministry's spokesman, Brig. Gen Saad Maan, says the newspaper report identifies an elite unit that answers to the Interior Ministry as the perpetrator of the abuses. The force is known as Emergency Response Division and is one of numerous factions fighting ISIS in Mosul.

Maan said on Tuesday that "legal measures will be applied ... against wrongdoers."

Der Spiegel's report, authored by an Iraqi photographer reportedly embedded with the police unit, claims he witnessed killing, torture and rape of ISIS suspects.

The police unit was not immediately available for comment.