Mass grave of Yazidi murdered by Islamic State found, Iraqi officials say

Bodies of 73 men, women and children discovered in Sinjar region, believed victims of jihadists’ brutal rule

By AFP 22 November 2017, 2:50 pm

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Skulls remain at the site of a purported mass grave in the city of Sinjar, northern Iraq after it was retaken from Islamic State militants, November 22, 2015. (AP via AP video/File)

MOSUL, Iraq — Iraqi officials said they found another mass grave in the northern Sinjar region on Wednesday containing the bodies of dozens of members of the Yazidi minority killed by the Islamic State group.

“The mass grave contains the bodies of 73 people, men, women and children executed by the Islamic State group when they controlled the region,” local official Chokor Melhem Elias told AFP.

He said Iraqi security forces made the latest discovery in the Rambussi area near the town of Qahtaniyya.

In 2014, IS killed thousands of Yazidis in Sinjar and kidnapped thousands of the community’s women and girls as sex slaves.

The United Nations estimates 3,000 of them are still being held captive.

Kurdish fighters backed by the US-led coalition recaptured Sinjar from IS in November 2015 before Iraqi security forces took control of the region in October.

As government troops have advanced across Iraq they have uncovered dozens of mass graves holding hundreds of bodies in areas that fell under the jihadists’ brutal rule.