At construction site

New mass grave discovered in Tal Afar with skeletons of men and children found

2024-07-25 | 18:27

TAL AFAR– New mass grave containing the remains of men and children has been discovered in Tal Afar, Nineveh governorate, according to the district administrator’s announcement on Thursday. The grave, located northeast of the city, was uncovered at a construction site for a new school.

In 2014, following the capture of Tal Afar, a predominately Turkmen city, by Islamic State terror group, over 1,200 local residents were kidnapped, including 120 children and 460 women and girls. The fate of many remains unknown, with only 54 individuals having been rescued from various locations in Iraq and Syria over the years.

An Iraqi Company resumed the construction of an 18-classroom public school in the Saad neighborhood of northeast Tal Afar two days ago. The project had been halted for more than a decade. While bulldozers were operating at the site, they unearthed skeletal remains buried haphazardly.

The company immediately notified local security agencies, which cordoned off the area and initiated legal procedures. The mass graves directorate has also been informed to undertake formal identification processes.

Khaleel Mohsen, Tal Afar’s district administrator (qaymaqam), stated to 964media, “The skeletal remains belong to elderly men and children. The identities and the exact number of the remains cannot be determined at this stage. The mass graves directorate will handle the official procedures.”

An initial examination revealed that the remains of 14 victims, identified as those murdered by ISIS, were found in the Saad neighborhood grave, according to a statement from the Military Media Cell. Further investigations are ongoing to identify all victims.

Since May of this year, authorities in Tal Afar have started excavations at the “Alu Antar” mass grave, located about 7 kilometers north of the town center. The grave is believed to contain the remains of victims killed by ISIS between 2014 and 2017.

Testimonies indicate that the victims in Alu Antar hole are Yazidis, Shiite Turkmen, and security forces personnel from Mosul, which was the de facto capital of ISIS’s self-proclaimed “caliphate.”

In Mid-July, the Iraq’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has announced its intention to establish miniature memorials at mass grave sites in the Sinjar and Tal Afar districts of Nineveh governorate to honor the victims of the Islamic State terror group.

The Islamic State, which declared a caliphate in 2014 after capturing vast territories in Iraq and Syria, was officially driven out of Iraq in 2017 by Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga, supported by a U.S.-led coalition. Despite the loss of its last Syrian stronghold in 2019 to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, residual members of the group still threaten the region.