UN, 200 mass graves in Iraq
The U.N. investigation has found more than 200 mass graves containing thousands of bodies have been found in areas of Iraq that were once controlled by the Islamic State (IS) group.
The graves were found in the north and western governorates of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar.
As many as 12,000 victims is believed or more the UN report said. IS seized parts of Iraq in 2014 and imposed brutal rule, commonly killing anyone of whom it disapproved.
As the militants swept through Iraq and neighboring Syria, they killed captured members of the security forces en masse, expelled or killed minorities, and enslaved women from the Yazidi sect. The U.N. says the widespread violations could amount to genocide.
Several graves found in Iraq’s Salahuddin province contain the remains of victims of the 2014 Camp Speicher massacre, when the militants killed around 1,700 Iraqi security forces and army cadets.
In some cases, the militants dropped their victims or the bodies of their victims in wells or sinkholes instead of digging graves. Investigators said there could be thousands of bodies in the Khasfa sinkhole south of Mosul, the largest city once under IS control.
Iraqi authorities have exhumed the remains of 1,258 victims from 28 graves, according to the U.N. It urged authorities to identify the remains of all gravesite victims and seek justice for families. It said bodies should be preserved and returned to families.
Iraq’s Mass Graves Directorate and Martyrs’ Commission could not be reached for immediate comment.
Iraq declared victory over IS in December last year, but the militants still control pockets of territory just across the border in Syria, and continue to claim responsibility for abductions and bomb blasts around the country.
