Mass grave with remains of 48 civilians found in Mosul’s Old City
Representational photo.
“Nineveh Operations troops confiscated today a mass grave in al-Midan region in Mosul’s Old City. It included remains of 48 civilians, that had signs of torture. They were executed in a secret prison in the region,” the source added.
“Most of the victims were civil servants and candidates in Nineveh. The bodies were transferred to forensic medicine department in Mosul.”
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi declared in July victory over IS militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25,000 Islamic State militants were killed throughout the campaign. Abadi announced, in December, full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members.
Thousands of IS militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.
As many as 3,298 civilians were killed and 4,781 others were wounded in 2017, excluding Anbar civilian casualty figures for November and December, which are not available, UNAMI said in a report in December.