Iraq Begins Excavation of Mass Grave Near Mosul

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Iraqi authorities have started excavating a mass grave site near Mosul believed to contain thousands of victims of the Islamic State (IS) group.

The work began on August 10 at the Khasfa site, according to project director Ahmed al-Assadi. During the first stage of the excavation, human skulls and other remains were found buried in the sand.

Khasfa, a large sinkhole south of Mosul, is believed to be one of the biggest mass graves left behind by IS, which had made the city the capital of its self-declared “caliphate” before being defeated in 2017. Official estimates suggest at least 4,000 bodies may be buried there, including soldiers, Yazidis, and local residents executed by the group.

Excavation is difficult because underground sulphur water has made the soil unstable and may have eroded the remains, complicating DNA identification. The sinkhole is about 150 meters deep and 110 meters wide.

Authorities say Khasfa was the site of one of IS’s worst massacres, when 280 people, many of them interior ministry employees, were executed in a single day in 2016.

The United Nations estimates that IS left behind more than 200 mass graves across Iraq, possibly containing up to 12,000 bodies. Iraqi teams also continue to uncover graves from Saddam Hussein’s rule, which ended with the 2003 US-led invasion.