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HRW urges Iraqi government to fence IS notorious Mosul dead dump

 HRW urges Iraqi government to fence IS notorious Mosul dead dump

A infamous sinkhole in Mosul where Islamic State dumped the bodies of civilians and security members they had executed.

A infamous sinkhole in Mosul where Islamic State dumped the bodies of civilians and security members they had executed.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi government should mark and cordon the site of a notorious Mosul sinkhole Islamic State militants used to dump dead bodies of their civilian victims, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

The natural aperture had become famous even before Iraqi government forces recaptured the area where it is located weeks ago. HRW quoted witnesses saying that many of the dead bodies of people slaughtered by IS, including members of Iraqi security forces, were thrown into a site known as Khasfa, about eight kilometers south of western Mosul. “Local residents said that before pulling out of the area in mid-February, ISIS laid improvised landmines at the site,” HRW said in a report.

“This mass grave is a grotesque symbol of ISIS’s cruel and depraved conduct – a crime of a monumental scale,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Laying landmines in the mass grave is clearly an attempt by ISIS to maximize harm to Iraqis.”

Khasfa was not the only mass grave of IS victims discovered by Iraqi troops or allied paramilitary forces in Mosul and other areas held by the extremist group since security forces launched an offensive in October to retake Iraq’s second largest city.

HRW upon the government to ensure citizens are enabled to identify relatives believed to be buried in that hole. “The strong desire to exhume the remains of loved ones from ISIS mass graves is perfectly understandable, but hastily conducted exhumations seriously harm the chances of identifying the victims and preserving evidence,” Fakih said. “While exhuming the remains of those killed at Khafsa may be difficult, authorities should do what they can to make sure that those who lost their loved ones there have access to justice.”

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