Remains of tens of security personnel found in mass grave, south of Mosul
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“Security forces confiscated remains of 56 security personnel, who were executed by Islamic State members, during their control on Mosul,” Cap. Moataz Azhar told BasNews.
“Troops found the mass grave in al-Bou Seif village, south of Mosul,” Azhar added. “The victims were transferred to forensic medicine department to identify them and notify their relatives.”
On Sunday, news reports quoted sources as saying that a mass grave containing human remains of 48 civilians was found in in al-Midan region in Mosul’s Old City.
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.