Iraq exhumes mass grave of IS victims to identify bodies
IRAQI authorities said yesterday the remains of 123 people killed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists had been removed from a mass grave in an effort to identify them.
The Badush prison massacre was one of the worst crimes IS carried out after it seized control of a third of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014. In June that year, IS fighters attacked the northwestern prison, freeing Sunni Muslim inmates and forcing 583 mainly Shia prisoners into trucks. They were then driven to a ravine and shot.
In recent weeks, dozens of family members of the victims have given blood samples, which will be compared to the DNA of the remains that were first found in the mass graves in 2017.
“Thousands of families are waiting to know what happened to their relatives,” Najm al-jubburi, governor of Nineveh province, where the prison is located, told the AFP news agency.
The grave, discovered after Iraqi forces took control of the area in March 2017, is one of more than 200 the extremist group left behind, the UN believes.
The remains of up to 12,000 people are thought to be buried in these graves, the UN says. It has accused IS of having committed genocide in Iraq.
One of those waiting for closure in Iraq is Abbas Mohammed, whose son was jailed at Badush following his arrest by US forces in 2005. “After 17 years of not knowing whether my son is alive or dead, I need an answer,” he said.
Iraq has been struggling to identify remains of people from several violent episodes in its recent history, and is still discovering mass graves from the regime of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.