Iraq starts work on Daesh mass grave thought to contain thousands
The first phase, which was launched on August 10, includes surface-level excavation at the Khasfa site, director Ahmed Al Assadi said.
An AFP correspondent visiting the site in northern Iraq on Sunday said the team unearthed human skulls buried in the sand.
Khasfa is located near Mosul, where Daesh had established the capital of their self-declared "caliphate" before being defeated in Iraq in late 2017.
Assadi said that there were no precise figures for the numbers of victims buried there — one of dozens of mass graves IDaesh left behind in Iraq — but a UN report from 2018 said Khasfa was likely the country's largest.
Official estimates put the number of bodies buried at the site at at least 4,000, with the possibility of thousands more.
The project director said the victims buried there include "soldiers executed by IS", members of the Yazidi minority and residents of Mosul.
Exhuming the bodies from Khasfa is particularly difficult, Assadi said, as underground sulphur water makes the earth very porous.
The water may have also eroded the human remains, complicating DNA identification of victims, he added.
Assadi said further studies will be required before his team can dig deeper and exhume bodies at the site -- a sinkhole about 150-metre (nearly 500-foot) deep and 110-metre wide.
Iraqi authorities said it was the site of "one of the worst massacres" committed by Daesh militants, executing 280 in a single day in 2016, many of them interior ministry employees.
In a lightning advance that began in 2014, IDaesh had seized large swathes Iraq and neighbouring Syria, enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law and committing widespread abuses.
The United Nations estimates the militants left behind more than 200 mass graves which might contain as many as 12,000 bodies.
In addition to Daesh-era mass graves, Iraqi authorities continue to unearth such sites dating to the rule of Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2003.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
West Bank mourns teen killed by Israeli forces
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, held a funeral for 18-year-old Hamdan Abu Aliya, who was killed by Israeli forces on Saturday. Mourners carried his body through the streets, waving Palestinian flags and banners of Fatah and Hamas while chanting, 'With our souls and our blood, we will redeem you, martyr.' His father, Musa Abu Aliya, sent a message beyond the village: 'Enough betrayal, enough humiliation, enough insult. No matter how many they kill, time is on our side. It is impossible for us to give up our land.' The Palestinian health ministry confirmed his death late on Saturday, saying he was shot by 'occupation forces in the town of Al-Mughayyir'. Responding to AFP, the Israeli army said its soldiers opened fire after 'terrorists' hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at occupation troops.
Al Etihad
14 hours ago
- Al Etihad
US envoy Witkoff 'hopeful' for 'productive' meeting on Ukraine conflict on Monday
17 Aug 2025 18:20 Washington (AFP)US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to "robust security guarantees" for Ukraine during their high-stakes summit in Alaska, a top White House envoy said Sunday, adding that he was hopeful for a "productive meeting" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders the next on CNN, Steve Witkoff added that Russia had agreed to unspecified concessions on five Ukrainian regions central to the fighting."We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing," Witkoff added: "The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions. And that discussion is going to specifically be detailed on Monday."Trump on Monday will be hosting Zelensky and a number of European leaders to discuss ways to end the three-and-a-half-year preparations come after Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire following the Alaska summit with Putin, something that had been one of Washington's core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC Sunday that a ceasefire "is not off the table," but "what we ultimately are aiming for is an end to this war."In a brief post on his Truth Social platform, Trump hailed "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA," without elaborating. The leaders heading to Washington on Monday include British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, among others.
The National
15 hours ago
- The National
Iraq begins long-awaited excavation of largest ISIS-era mass grave
Authorities in Iraq on Sunday began exhuming bodies from a vast natural sinkhole south of Mosul that is believed to have been turned into the country's largest mass grave by ISIS. The Governor of Nineveh, Abdul Qadir Al Dakhil, announced the start of the first phase of the excavation of Al Khasfa cemetery, which lies in a remote area about 20km outside Mosul. The provincial government will work to build a memorial to commemorate the victims, Mr Abdul Qadir said. Senior judicial officials oversaw the operations, marking a long-delayed step to recover the remains of thousands of people believed to have been executed and dumped into the pit during ISIS control of the city between 2014 and 2017. A forensics team – clad in white protective suits, gloves and masks – carefully began digging at the site. They methodically brushed away dirt and debris, documenting every step of the process. Nearby, some remains were covered with plastic sheets. For now, authorities say the immediate task is to recover and identify the dead in the surrounding area. Forensic experts are expected to begin DNA testing once remains are retrieved. The first phase focuses on the area surrounding the sinkhole with surface-level excavation, cleaning up, and the preservation of evidence, the General Director of Mass Graves Department at the Martyrs Foundation Dhiya Al Saiedi said. All remains that will be exhumed will be handed over to the Forensic Medicine Department for final examination, Mr Al Saiedi added in a statement. Human Rights Watch first identified Al Khasfa in 2017, reporting that ISIS fighters turned the natural sinkhole into a killing field where they disposed of potentially thousands of victims. Later investigations by Iraqi and international groups described it as the largest mass grave linked to ISIS. A UN-backed survey in 2018 recorded more than 200 ISIS-era mass graves across Iraq, many in and around Mosul, with an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 bodies buried. For years, families of the missing have pressed the government to open Al Khasfa, but technical challenges, security concerns and funding delays stalled efforts. In March, Nineveh authorities announced that they had secured money and logistical support to begin the dig, describing Al Khasfa as a "priority case' for the courts and forensics teams. The excavation comes against the backdrop of Iraq winding down international support for war crimes investigations. The UN's investigative team for ISIS crimes, Unitad, ended its mandate in 2024 after Baghdad declined to renew it. Rights groups have since urged Iraq to ensure evidence recovery and prosecutions continue without international oversight. ISIS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria, in the summer of 2014, declaring a caliphate that spanned areas of both countries. During that time, the extremists led a campaign of widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Three years later, Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led international coalition, reclaimed all ISIS-held territory across the country after gruelling fighting that left thousands dead and large areas in ruin. Hundreds of mass graves have since been discovered in various parts of Iraq, mainly around the Yazidi minority hometown of Sinjar, in the north-west. In August 2014, ISIS fighters captured Sinjar and the surrounding villages, taking thousands of Yazidis captive and killing others.
