Iraqi authorities confirm UN figures on mass graves
138 views · Published 13 November 2018 · 2:46 · Indexed 19 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(7 Nov 2018) LEADIN: Iraqi officials have confirmed that 200 mass graves have been found in northern Iraq, as reported by the United Nations yesterday. They contain the bodies of those who died at the hands of the Islamic State group and experts believe there are more to be discovered. STORYLINE: Dotted across barren land in northern Iraq lies evidence of the atrocities committed by the Islamic State group. There are more than 200 mass graves containing between 6,000 and 12,000 bodies from the three-year reign of IS, UN investigators have confirmed. The 202 graves verified by investigators dot northern Iraq and are a "legacy of ISIL's terror," according to a joint report by the U.N. mission to Iraq and the U.N. office for human rights. Findings from the gravesites can be used as evidence of the group's crimes, they say. Dheyaa Kareem, Head of Mass Graves Department of the Martyrs Foundation confirmed the figures in the UN report. He also says that new mass graves are still being discovered. The number of mass graves is increasing. Two days ago security forces informed us of the discovery of a mass grave in Salahuddin area," he says. The graves in the UN report date from 2014 to 2017 when the militant group, sometimes known by the acronym ISIL, ruled some of Iraq's largest cities and towns. As the militants swept through Iraq and neighbouring Syria, they killed and captured members of the security forces en masse, expelled or killed minorities and enslaved women from the Yazidi sect. The UN says the widespread violations could amount to genocide. Several graves found in Iraq's Salahuddin province contain the remains of victims of the 2014 Camp Speicher massacre, when the militants killed around 1,700 Iraqi security forces and army cadets. In some cases, the militants dropped their victims or the bodies of their victims in wells or sinkholes instead of digging graves. Investigators said there could be thousands of bodies in the Khasfa sinkhole south of Mosul, the largest city once under IS control. Iraqi authorities have exhumed the remains of 1,258 victims from 28 graves, according to the UN. It urged authorities to identify the remains of all gravesite victims and seek justice for families. It said bodies should be preserved and returned to families. Iraq's Mass Graves Directorate says no exhumation or excavation is ongoing at the moment but that they plan to continue their work in the near future. "We have our plan to open these mass graves in the future but there are some problems and obstacles that we face, including the allocation of money, technical issues, as many of these are located in remote areas where security problems and conflict still exist. These areas are not yet clear from bombs and unexploded ordnance," Kareem says. Iraq declared victory over IS in December last year, but the militants still control pockets of territory just across the border in Syria and continue to claim responsibility for abductions and bomb blasts around the country. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e568b934c23dbec327d793dabca176e8
