Iraqi forces find mass grave in area recaptured from IS

Over 100 beheaded bodies discovered at agricultural college as troops reclaim site 14 km from Mosul

By AFP 7 November 2016, 9:09 pm
Iraqi soldiers pose with an Islamic State (IS) group flag as they hold a position in the village of Gogjali, a few hundred meters off Mosul's eastern edge, on November 2, 2016, as clashes go on between Iraqi army forces and the jihadists to retake Mosul, the last Iraqi city under the control of IS. (Bulent Kilic/AFP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi police forces said they found a mass grave at the agricultural college in an area that was recaptured from the Islamic State group on Monday.

The grave was found in Hamam al-Alil area, about 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) from the southern outskirts of Mosul, the last IS-held city in Iraq.

“Federal police found a mass grave west of Hamam al-Alil in the agricultural college,” the police said in a statement that did not offer more details.

The Joint Operations Command said that, “Iraqi forces found… 100 bodies of citizens with their heads cut off” at the college, and that specialized teams would investigate.

An Iraqi soldier from the Iraqi Army 9th armored division holds a death certificate issued by the Islamic State group next to a base adjacent to the Al-Intissar neighborhood of Mosul, on November 7, 2016. (AFP/Odd ANDERSEN)

Iraqi forces have previously provided estimates of the number of victims in mass graves before they have been excavated and counted.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, declaring a cross-border “caliphate” that also included territory in Syria.

Its rule has been marked by repeated atrocities including mass beheadings and other executions that it has documented in photos and videos lauding the violence that its supporters share online.

Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory that IS seized, and have uncovered a series of mass graves and massacre sites as they have pushed the jihadists back.

Iraqi forces are now fighting to retake Mosul from IS, and Hamam al-Alil was one of the last major obstacles between them and the southern outskirts of the city.

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