31 bodies exhumed from mass grave in Tal Afar, Nineveh

NINEVEH — Iraq’s Mass Graves Affairs Directorate announced the completion of excavation work at a mass grave in Tal Afar, where 31 bodies were exhumed. The discovery was made during the restoration of a government school in the Saad neighbourhood.

The remains are believed to belong to individuals executed by ISIS in 2014, following the capture of the predominantly Turkmen city by the group. Over 1,200 local residents were kidnapped at that time, including 120 children and 460 women and girls, with many still unaccounted for.

Khalil Mohsen, mayor of Tal Afar, told 964media: “The Directorate of Mass Graves has completed its work at the Saad neighbourhood cemetery, discovered during the renovation of a local school. We have exhumed 31 incomplete bodies, and the remains have been officially handed over to the Baghdad Forensic Medicine Department for classification.”

In addition to the Saad neighbourhood grave, further remains were recovered from the Alou Antar cemetery, north of Tal Afar, where excavation began in May. The site has undergone four phases of recovery, with the most recent lasting 18 days and resulting in the exhumation of seven more victims. A fifth phase will be required to recover the remaining bodies.

The Mass Graves Affairs Directorate, part of the Martyrs’ Foundation, said in a statement: “Based on Law No. 13 of 2015 regarding mass graves, a team from the Directorate, in collaboration with the Forensic Medicine Department and the International Commission on Missing Persons, has been working to open the Saad neighbourhood grave.”

All remains have been transferred to the Forensic Medicine Department for DNA testing to match bone samples with blood samples, with the aim of identifying the victims and returning their remains to their families. Legal documents, including investigation reports, will be referred to the specialized court for further proceedings.

In July, skeletal remains were uncovered by construction workers during the construction of an 18-classroom public school in the Saad neighbourhood, , prompting authorities to secure the site and call in the Mass Graves Directorate.

According to a June 2024 report by the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq, an estimated 400,000 people are believed to be buried in mass graves across Iraq, with between 250,000 and 1 million missing persons, many of whom are thought to be victims of mass executions.

In 2007, Iraq’s Council of Ministers designated May 16 as the National Day of Mass Graves, and the Law on the Protection of Mass Graves, amended in 2015, continues to guide investigations into these sites.