Mass graves of no less than 400 victims found in Kirkuk: Governor

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Several mass graves of hundreds of civilians executed by Islamic State were found in an old U.S.base, west of Kirkuk, an official said on Saturday.

“We are now standing at al-Bakara base, that was once a headquarter for U.S. troops before being a site for IS to carry out executions,” Rakan Saeed, acting governor of Kirkuk, said in press remarks. “It’s the brutality of terrorists who executed no less than 400 victims, some of whom in red suits while others in civilian clothes.”

Saeed urged the Iraqi government and United Nations to check the mass graves and identify the victims.

In October, Iraqi troops ran into a mass grave, composed of relics of 50 army and police personnel in Hawija, southwestern Kirkuk. Paramilitary troops announced, earlier the month, running into ten mass graves containing relics of security personnel and civilians who were executed by IS.

Iraq’s High Commission for Human Rights asked, in the same month, for international assistance regarding the handling of mass graves, capabilities and expertise in exhuming the relics, taking DNA samples and identifying victims families.

Operations were launched in late September to liberate Hawija, before Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced freeing the town in October.

Iraqi troops managed to retake several Islamic State strongholds including Mosul and Tal Afar in Nineveh, Hawija in Kirkuk and Annah and Qaim in Anbar.