This frame grab from a video provided on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, shows a Syrian worker of a Raqqa group walk at the site of a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of civilians and Islamic State militants, in Raqqa. (All Photos credited: AP Photo)
2018-12-14
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SULAIMANI — Syrian forces have reportedly unearthed a mass grave in eastern Syria, which may contain the remains for several hundred victims of Islamic State (ISIS), including Iraqi nationals, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US newspaper reported on Thursday (December 13) that the discovery was made in the Albu Kamal area on Wednesday and that it had seen photographs depicting men in white protective suits conducting an examination of the site.
It quoted an intelligence officer in an Iraqi militia allied with the Syrian government as saying that at least one of the bodies recovered so far had an Iraqi ID card. The officer added that the body was transferred to their custody and they repatriated the remains.
According to the report, the deceased had been abducted from his home in al-Qaim by ISIS militants when they controlled the area because they suspected him of collaborating with the Iraqi military.
The Albu Kamal area borders Anbar province and people that the Wall Street Journal spoke with believe that there could be more Iraqi nationals in the grave because ISIS had controlled both areas.
Last month, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said that it had verified 202 mass graves in Saladin, Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Anbar governorates containing the remains of ISIS victims.
On November 27, Syrian workers began exhuming more than 500 bodies from a large mass grave near the Raqqa in Syria, which had been Islamic State’s de facto capital until it was retaken by the Syrian Defense Forces.
A UN investigative team led by British barrister Karim Asad Ahmad Khan is set to begin its substantive forensic work documenting ISIS crimes against humanity in the coming year.
“[Our] mandate was not created to create simply an archive that would gather dust,” said Khan said at an event in London on Wednesday.
“Our bid is ... to ensure that the best possible evidence is presented, is preserved, is collected. The necessary investigations are committed so that those who committed these horrendous acts are subjected to the vigor of the law.”
(NRT Digital Media)