Iraqi forces discover three ISIL mass graves in Salahuddin

Iraqi security forces have discovered three mass graves in two areas previously held by the ISIL Takfiri militants in Salahuddin province.

According to an Iraqi security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, the “security forces found today three mass graves containing the remains of about 11 people in Tel Thahab and the vicinity of Balad district (80 kilometers south of Tikrit),” the Iraqi News online newspaper reported.

The security source further noted that the ISIL Takfiri militants “used to control those regions,” adding that the “remains belong to civilian and military personnel who were executed by ISIL when it controlled these areas.”

A mass grave, containing the bodies of about 27 people, was also discovered in Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk, according to Iraq’s Ministry of Human Rights on March 14.

The Iraqi rights body further noted that the victims were found near the mainly Shia Turkmen town of Basheer and were killed by the ISIL terrorists when they rolled into the town last June.

On February 2, Kurdish fighters found another mass grave containing the remains of 25 Izadi men, women and children. According to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, the grave was found near the town of Sinune, located west of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, during a search for explosives that the ISIL often leaves behind.

ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.

The terrorists have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against all Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and Izadis.

On March 19, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report the ISIL Takfiri militants may have committed all types of international crimes against humanity, including genocide in its brutal acts of violence and terrorism in Iraq.