Sinjar excavation of mass graves underway to recover remains of ISIS victims

SINJAR — Excavation efforts have begun at several mass graves in the Sinjar district of Nineveh Governorate, with local authorities and human rights organizations emphasizing their importance for Yazidi and Shia communities affected by past violence.

Iraq’s Department of Affairs and Protection of Mass Graves and Missing Persons at the Martyrs Foundation is leading the excavation in collaboration with the local Petrichor organization. The project aims to recover and identify the remains of victims buried in mass graves during ISIS’s genocidal campaign against Yazidis in 2014.

Khairi Ali, director of the Petrichor organization, told 964media: “The excavation of these graves began yesterday and will be completed in multiple stages. The work is expected to finish within 20 days.” The team has inspected a mass grave for Shia victims and will next excavate two graves containing the remains of Yazidi victims.

Petrichor, which focuses on human rights advocacy in Sinjar and surrounding areas, has placed special emphasis on Yazidi graves. “These graves represent the genocide perpetrated against Yazidis by ISIS in 2014,” Ali said. According to the organization’s data, 93 mass graves belonging to Yazidis have been discovered so far—55 have been excavated, while 38 remain untouched. From the excavated sites, 750 remains have been recovered, although 242 victims remain unidentified.

Atrocities were also experienced by Shia Turkmens in the Tal Afar district, who also faced mass killings, displacements, and forced migrations at the hands of ISIS.

The Islamic State declared a caliphate in 2014 and controlled major cities such as Mosul and Tikrit before being driven out of Iraq in 2017 by Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga, and a U.S.-led coalition. Although the group lost its final Syrian stronghold in 2019, its remnants continue to pose a threat in the region.

A June 2024 report by the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq estimates that around 400,000 people—including Christians, Kurds, and Shiites—are buried in mass graves across the country. Additionally, Iraq is believed to have between 250,000 and 1 million missing persons, many of whom are presumed victims of mass executions.

In 2007, Iraq’s Council of Ministers established May 16 as National Day of Mass Graves to honor the missing. The Law on the Protection of Mass Graves, amended in 2015, outlines procedures for investigating these sites. For over a decade, the International Commission on Missing Persons has worked closely with Iraq to address this critical issue.