The jihadis used the human shield as efforts to retake the ­terrorist stronghold, which kicked off under a US-led coalition on May 22, intensified.

Some 70 fanatics have been killed in airstrikes in the past five days in Iraq and Syria, including Maher al-Bilawi, IS’s leader in Fallujah.

Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the US-led coalition , said the terrorists “are holding the civilian population captive so that they can hide behind them”. In a weekly update of operations, he added: “We’ve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Al-Bilawi.”