ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Three mass graves containing 55 bodies were found Wednesday near the town of Baiji north of Baghdad, the Iraqi military’s media office announced. “The Iraqi security forces have found three mass graves in the Assri neighborhood. The first contained 24 bodies, the second consisted of 14 and the last had 17 bodies,” it said. The statement did not provide any other details. Baiji, the site of Iraq’s largest oil refinery, has been the scene of months of intense fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State group (ISIS). On Tuesday, Raed Jabouri, the current governor of Salahadin province, announced that Iraqi forces backed by the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militia succeeded in recapturing the town of Baiji and the Albu Jawar area from ISIS. The Shiite militia also claimed that its forces were cleaning up roads in the area of ISIS landmines. The government has claimed victory in Baiji several times in the past months, but the reports have been unfounded. ISIS suicide attacks have halted the advances of Iraqi forces, according to reports. Baiji, located in Salahadin province and roughly 210 kilometers from Baghdad, fell to ISIS in 2014.
