Amnesty International said on Tuesday it had identified a pattern of attacks by Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led military coalition backing them in the battle for Mosul that violated international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

The rights group said in a report that the Islamic State militant group had flagrantly violated that same law by deliberately putting civilians in harm's way to shield their fighters and impede the advance of Iraqi and coalition forces.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Mosul on Monday, three years after the Islamic State group seized the city and made it the stronghold of a "caliphate" they said would take over the world.