Recovering bodies efforts concluded in Nineveh: Civil Defense
Workers remove rubble during the rebuilding of a building destroyed during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic state fighters, eastern Mosul, Iraq, April 21, 2017. REUTERS/ Muhammad Hamed
Speaking to Alghad Press on Monday, Brig. Gen, Mohamed al-Jawari, head of the department, said, “the civil defense team concluded processes of recovering bodies in Mosul, especially in the western side of the city.”
The teams, according to Jawari, “will respond to calls from citizens over presence of any bodies to remove them from under the rubble.”
“Over the past period of time, the civil defense teams managed to recover bodies from under the debris, in the wake of calls made by citizens over presence of bodies,” he added.
Regarding estimates on the accurate figures of recovered bodies, Jawari said, “no accurate information on number of the bodies, however, they exceed 2,000.”
Last week, Col. Zaid Ibrahim, of the department, told Alghad Press that 95 percent of the bodies were in the western side of Mosul as well as the Old City.
On July 10, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over Islamic State militants who had held the second largest Iraqi city since 2014. More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign.
A government campaign, backed by PMFs and a U.S.-led international coalition, has been fighting the Islamic State group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.