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| Bodies of soldiers killed by Isis exhumed from Tikrit mass grave | Bodies of soldiers killed by Isis exhumed from Tikrit mass grave |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| An Iraqi official says teams in the newly liberated city of Tikrit have started exhuming bodies from a mass grave believed to contain hundreds of soldiers killed by Islamic State militants last year. | An Iraqi official says teams in the newly liberated city of Tikrit have started exhuming bodies from a mass grave believed to contain hundreds of soldiers killed by Islamic State militants last year. |
| About 1,700 soldiers were captured by the extremists in June as they were trying to flee Camp Speicher – an airbase on the outskirt of Tikrit that previously served as a US military facility – following an onslaught that stunned security forces and the military, which melted away as the militants advanced and captured key cities and towns in the country’s north and west. | About 1,700 soldiers were captured by the extremists in June as they were trying to flee Camp Speicher – an airbase on the outskirt of Tikrit that previously served as a US military facility – following an onslaught that stunned security forces and the military, which melted away as the militants advanced and captured key cities and towns in the country’s north and west. |
| Related: Iraqi Sunnis forced to abandon homes and identity in battle for survival | Related: Iraqi Sunnis forced to abandon homes and identity in battle for survival |
| Then, the extremist group posted graphic photos that appeared to show its gunmen massacring scores of the soldiers after loading the captives on to flatbed trucks and then forcing them to lay face down in a shallow ditch, their arms tied behind their backs. Other videos showed masked gunmen bringing the soldiers to a bloodstained concrete riverfront inside the presidential palaces complex, shooting them in the head and throwing them into the Tigris. | Then, the extremist group posted graphic photos that appeared to show its gunmen massacring scores of the soldiers after loading the captives on to flatbed trucks and then forcing them to lay face down in a shallow ditch, their arms tied behind their backs. Other videos showed masked gunmen bringing the soldiers to a bloodstained concrete riverfront inside the presidential palaces complex, shooting them in the head and throwing them into the Tigris. |
| A few days after Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni and Shia fighters recaptured the city, government teams started on Monday opening up eight locations inside the complex where much of the killing is believed to have taken place. | A few days after Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni and Shia fighters recaptured the city, government teams started on Monday opening up eight locations inside the complex where much of the killing is believed to have taken place. |
| Kamil Amin, a spokesman for Iraq’s human rights ministry, said at least 12 corpses were exhumed on Monday. He added that DNA samples had been taken from about 85% of the victims’ families and tests on the bodies would begin shortly. | Kamil Amin, a spokesman for Iraq’s human rights ministry, said at least 12 corpses were exhumed on Monday. He added that DNA samples had been taken from about 85% of the victims’ families and tests on the bodies would begin shortly. |
| Iraqi state TV showed teams digging in an open area, helped by bulldozers. as family members stood nearby. The bodies were tagged with yellow tags while weeping soldiers and relatives lit candles and laid flowers alongside the covered remains. One clip showed unearthed skeletal remains still wearing combat boots. | |
| “The work is continuing and we expect to discover more mass graves in different areas,” Amin said. “We expect huge number of bodies to be unearthed.” | |
| During their blitz last year, the extremists also carried out mass killings in other areas. One of those massacres was outside Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, where they forced 600 Shia inmates captured from Badoosh prison to kneel along the edge of a nearby ravine and shot them with automatic weapons. The prisoners had been serving sentences for a range of crimes, from murder and assault to nonviolent offences. In Anbar province, Isis shot dead dozens of pro-government Sunni tribal fighters in public areas after capturing their towns. | |
| The onslaught in June 2014 by Is is threw Iraq into its worst crisis since the 2011 US troop withdrawal. The militants also targeted Iraq’s indigenous religious minorities, including Christians and followers of the ancient Yazidi faith, forcing tens of thousands from their homes. | The onslaught in June 2014 by Is is threw Iraq into its worst crisis since the 2011 US troop withdrawal. The militants also targeted Iraq’s indigenous religious minorities, including Christians and followers of the ancient Yazidi faith, forcing tens of thousands from their homes. |
| Since then, the Isis has carved out a self-styled caliphate in the large area straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border. | Since then, the Isis has carved out a self-styled caliphate in the large area straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border. |
| In early August, the US launched air strikes on the militants in Iraq, in an effort to help Iraqi forces fight back against the growing threat. Isis still holds the northern Iraqi province of Ninevah and most of the western province of Anbar, in addition to small areas north of Baghdad, along with a large swath of land in neighbouring Syria. | |