Gov’t Forces Unearth Two Mass Graves of ISIL Victims in Northwestern Iraq

The Arabic-language Elam al-Harbi reported that the 15th Brigade of Hashd al-Shaabi has found a mass grave in Majma al- Jazeera South of the town of Sinjar, containing almost 80 civilians, mostly Izadi people, massacred by the ISIL.

In the meantime, the 53th Brigade of Hashd al-Shaabi unearthed another mass grave in the village of Qabousi South of Sinjar with the remains of over 20 Izadi women and tens of Izadi children.

Director General of the Iraq’s Forensic Medicine Department Zeid Ali Abbas said in July that a new mass grave of the Iraqi forces was discovered in camp Speicher, adding that the total number of found bodies from 14 different locations stood at 827.

He further said that the grave was found in presidential palaces area in Tikrit near Salahuddin palace, adding that identity of 527 of the victims was identified.

Ali Abbas went on to say that the total number of unearthed mass graves in the region reached 15, adding that most of the buried men were student pilots of Speicher airbase that were killed by ISIL terrorists.

On June 12, 2014, ISIL terrorists killed around 1,700 Iraqi air force cadets after kidnapping them from Camp Speicher, a former US base. There were reportedly around 4,000 unarmed cadets in the camp when it came under attack by ISIL militants.

Following the abductions, the attackers took the victims to the complex of presidential palaces and killed them. The terrorists also threw some of the bodies into a river.

An investigation committee later revealed that 57 members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party aided ISIL terrorists in the massacre.