Iraqi security forces uncover mass grave of 14 bodies near Mosul

Authorities said grave dates back to the time of the ISIS takeover

An ISIS fighter in Mosul in June 2014, after the militant group had taken control of the northern Iraqi city. Reuters

A mass grave containing remains of at least 14 people was discovered on Wednesday near Mosul, northern Iraq, with security forces saying it dates back to when ISIS controlled the area between 2014 and 2017.

“Preliminary examination revealed that these remains belong to 14 victims of ISIS criminal gangs, buried at an earlier time,” a statement by the Security Media Cell said.

The security forces initiated a search operation and “in a painful scene, they found these remains buried”.

Citizens in the northern city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, reported human remains in Al Saad neighbourhood “while digging and laying the foundation for an under-construction school”, the Security Media Cell said.

The pictures show bones, skulls and cloths next to a military helmet in the construction site.

The remains will be transferred to the concerned parties for identification process, it added.

ISIS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria, in the summer of 2014, declaring a caliphate that spanned areas of both countries.

During that time, it led a campaign of widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led international coalition, reclaimed all ISIS-held territory in Iraq in late 2017, after three years of fighting.

A legacy of terror

Dozens of mass graves have since been discovered in various parts of Iraq, mainly around the Yazidi minority hometown of Sinjar, in the north-west.

In August 2014, ISIS fighters captured Sinjar and surrounding villages, taking thousands of Yazidis captive and slaughtering others.

At least 200 mass graves have been discovered since ISIS was defeated, Ahmed Qusay, who heads the mass graves excavation teams at the state-run Martyrs Institution, told The National.

"Our team will head tomorrow and will conduct an initial technical inspection," he added.

Since May, his teams have been working on one the most notorious and largest mass graves of ISIS victims outside Tal Afar, he said.

Known totally as Alo Antar well, it is an oval pit of about a 35-metre diameter and a depth of up to 40m.

"It is one of the palaces where Daesh gangs committed atrocities by either throwing them into the well alive or shooting them to fall in it," he added.

The remains of more than 150 victims have been exhumed so far, Mr Qusay said.

"We placed metal ladders to descent into the well and used jackhammers to smash the rocks in order to reach in and pick up the remains."

Residents expect the death toll to be about 1,400, mostly Yazidis and Turkmens, he added.

Once the remains are exhumed, they will be sent to the central forensic DNA lab in Baghdad.

Tal Afar is about 70km west of Mosul and home to a mix of Yazids and Shiite Turkmens, both of which were strongly persecuted by ISIS.