News / Syria

Thousands of bodies found in Syria mass grave: Report

Tuesday, 17 May 2016 7:07 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 17 May 2016 7:07 AM ]

Fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) stand next to the bodies of unidentified fighters (not seen in the picture) in the northern Syria province of Raqqa on July 10, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Thousands of bodies have reportedly been found in a mass grave in a northern Syrian town, which had been under the Daesh Takfiri terror group’s control for about a month.

Suluk, which lies less than a dozen miles away from the Turkish border, fell to Daesh in February. The Kurdish People's Protection Units drove the terrorists back in March.

"We discovered thousands of bodies of innocent victims in the ravine,” the Kurdish forces’ commander Mohamed Jirkis said, referring to a gorge where the bodies had been dumped, British paper Daily Express reported on Monday.

The victims, who comprise men, women, and children, had reportedly been tortured before their death.

Recounting the horror, resident Abdel Halif Al-Jasim said, “They would bring those still alive to the precipice, blindfold them and shoot above their heads to scare them. People would then start running and fall over the edge. They'd bring the bodies of others, covered in blankets, and throw them off.”

The town was recaptured after Kurdish fighters cleared the town of Tal Abyad, about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) southeast of Suluk, of Daesh presence last year.

Tal Abyad used to serve as a major lair for Daesh, given its proximity to the city of Raqqa, the group’s so-called capital.

In early April, Syrian forces uncovered a mass grave bearing people killed by Daesh in the recently-liberated city of Palmyra in the Homs province.

Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted a field source as saying that 25 corpses, including five women and three children, had been recovered from the mass grave.

Syria has been gripped by a militancy it blames on some foreign governments. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people in total since March 2011.

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