139 bodies unearthed in mass grave in Northern Iraq
In a mass grave 42 meters deep, the victims of the self-proclaimed caliphate lie. Near the former IS headquarters in Mosul, Iraqi authorities exhumed the remains of 139 people. Some still wore orange jumpsuits, others had their throats slit.
The Iraqi authorities have retrieved the remains of 139 people from a pit, likely victims of the Islamic State (IS) militia. "We have removed the remains of 139 people and human body parts," said Dia Karim, head of the state foundation for mass graves, after the excavation in Tal Afar about 70 kilometers west of Mosul in northern Iraq.
The victims - women and men - were identified by eyewitnesses as coming from the time of IS rule or the Al-Qaeda terror network in that area, explained Karim. Based on their clothing, they could be Yazidis, Turkmen, or members of the Mossul security forces, the de facto capital of the former self-proclaimed "Caliphate" of IS. At the height of their power, the group controlled wide areas of Syria and Iraq. Their fighters spread fear and terror with torture and beheadings and left numerous mass graves.
IS left up to 200 mass graves
Ahmed al-Assadi of the Martyrs Foundation declared that the victims were "not buried but thrown into the pit," whose depth reaches up to 42 meters. "Some of the victims were shot, others had their throats slit," several were in body bags, he added. Some of the dead wore orange jumpsuits, like those worn by IS prisoners. The remains were taken to the forensic medicine institute for examination.
The mass grave was discovered after the Iraqi forces regained control of the area in 2017, but the excavation work began only in May of that year. According to UN estimates, the jihadists left more than 200 mass graves, in which up to 12,000 bodies could be located.
The excavation of the mass grave in Tal Afar revealed 139 victims linked to IS's reign of terror in Iraq. These individuals, reportedly murdered and manslaughtered, were possibly Yazidis, Turkmen, or members of the Mosul security forces, as indicated by their clothing and the time period.
The disturbing findings in the 42-meter-deep pit corroborate Ahmed al-Assadi's statement that IS brutally executed some victims by shooting them or slitting their throats, indicating that even prison clothing could not shield them from this politics of violence and fear.
