Mass grave for ISIS victims in Nineveh opening soon

A team from the International Committee for Missing Persons and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq visited Tal Afar, Nineveh Governorate, to discuss procedures for opening a mass grave containing the remains of

A team from the International Committee for Missing Persons and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq visited Tal Afar, Nineveh Governorate, to discuss procedures for opening a mass grave containing the remains of about a thousand people killed by ISIS.

UNHCR member Ali Al-Bayati said that the cemetery is located in the vicinity of Tal Afar, which has a Turkmen majority, and according to eyewitnesses, it contains the remains of 600 Yazidi victims and 400 Turkmen.

He added that the victims were killed by ISIS during its control of the area.

Al-Bayati stressed that the committee is in charge of providing assistance to the Iraqi government in opening mass graves, and that according to the Mass Graves Act, the Martyrs Foundation is responsible for opening mass graves that are found in the country.

He explained that the cemetery mentioned was previously planted with mines, which were removed, but it has not been opened yet.

In the summer of 2017, Iraqi forces recovered Tal Afar from ISIS control, but ISIS remnants still launch attacks from time to time in the areas adjacent to the district.