Iraqi investigators were yesterday probing a mass grave that was discovered the previous day by troops advancing further into Islamic State-held territory near Mosul.
The chilling find was the latest instance of mass graves being uncovered in territory wrested from the Islamic State group.
In Iraq and Syria, the group has killed thousands of people in summary executions and extrajudicial killings, the graves a dark testimony to its brutality.
Photo: AP
Associated Press footage from the site showed bones and decomposed bodies among scraps of clothing and plastic bags dug out of the ground by a bulldozer after troops noticed the strong smell while advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil on Monday.
“Investigators flew in this morning, and are on their way to the grave to conduct examinations and determine the cause of death,” said Iraqi Cabinet official Haider Majeed, who is in charge of mass grave investigations.
The first officials at the site said the grave, behind an earthen embankment near an agricultural college, likely holds about 100 bodies, many of them decapitated. The town lies about 30km from Mosul.
It was unclear who the victims were, but a soldier at the site pulled a child’s stuffed animal from the scraps of clothing and rotting flesh, swarming with flies.
The Islamic State group have carried out a series of massacres since seizing large swaths of southern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, often documenting them with photographs and videos circulated online.
The campaign to drive them from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the extremists’ last major urban stronghold in the nation, began on Oct. 17.
Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga forces are converging on Mosul, although the deepest advance into an eastern sliver of the city has stalled after militants counterattacked advancing special forces from within built-up, populated areas.
To the northeast, about 13km from the city, the Peshmerga forces yesterday retook the town of Bashiqa, one of the last areas east of Mosul to be held by the Islamic State group, a top security official said.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters had launched an assault on Bashiqa the day before, advancing on the town from three sides.
The town is under “complete control,” Jabbar Yawar, the secretary-general of the Kurdish regional ministry responsible for the Peshmerga, said by telephone.
“Our forces are clearing mines and sweeping the city,” Yawar said.
“In the morning, there was a group of terrorists hiding inside some of the houses who wanted to escape ... and 13 of them were killed,” he said, adding that five more were found inside tunnels.
In related news, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance yesterday pushed closer to Raqa in Syria.
After announcing the launch of the long-awaited assault on Raqa on Sunday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance said it had moved south toward the city despite fierce militant resistance.
SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said that the alliance’s forces had advanced at least 10km on two fronts toward Raqa amid heavy fighting.
“The offensive is going according to plan,” said Ahmed, adding that the SDF had captured at least 10 villages.
An SDF commander said IS was fighting back with its favorite tactic of sending suicide bombers against advancing forces.
Additional reporting by AFP
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