ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A mass grave was discovered in Iraq’s Mosul city and is believed to contain the bodies of people killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) during the group's control of the area a decade ago. The mass grave of 24 bodies were discovered in western Mosul, Mohammed Kakayi, head of the Nineveh provincial council’s security committee, told Rudaw on Monday. “The bodies are of people from Mosul, but their identities are unknown,” he added. “Samples have been sent for DNA testing for identification.” ISIS swept through Iraq in 2014, capturing cities across the middle and north of the country in a brazen offensive, including Mosul, then Iraq’s second-largest city and the capital of Nineveh province, where the group declared its so-called “caliphate.” When ISIS seized control of Nineveh, it included Shingal (Sinjar) district, the homeland of the Yazidi people. The militants killed, kidnapped, and enslaved Yazidis, committing genocide against the ethnoreligous minority that has long been persecuted in Iraq. In addition to targeting the Yazidis, ISIS committed violence against Arabs, Christians, Kurds, and other minority groups. Among the group’s crimes were “executions, torture, amputations, ethno-sectarian attacks, rape, and sexual slavery imposed on women and girls,” according to UNITAD, the UN body in Iraq tasked with promoting accountability for the crimes committed by ISIS. UNITAD was formed in 2017 by the United Nations Security Council at the request of Baghdad. The investigative team, however, had a difficult relationship with the Iraqi government, reportedly due to UNITAD’s reluctance to share information with Iraqi authorities over concerns about the use of the death penalty. Iraq requested UNITAD end its mission and its mandate will expire in September. In late July, Iraqi authorities revealed that they found a mass grave in northern Nineveh that contained the bodies of 14 victims of ISIS. Iraq continues to discover mass graves not only from the ISIS period but also from the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2003.
