News / Syria

Mass graves containing dozens of tortured Syrians uncovered in Aleppo

Monday, 26 December 2016 4:27 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 26 December 2016 5:31 PM ]

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency, SANA, shows damaged buildings and cars in Ansari neighborhood, east Aleppo, Syria, on December 23, 2016.

Russian troops have found a number of mass graves in the recently liberated Syrian city of Aleppo, which contained remains of bodies with signs of torture and mutilation at the hands of foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists.

“Mass burial sites of many dozens of Syrians, who were subjected to brutal torture and then murdered, have been found. In many cases, body parts are missing. Most victims have been shot in the head. And it seems this is only the beginning,” the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement on Monday.

Konashenkov said that the instances were being recorded as serious war crimes, adding that Moscow would publicize them to let “the European backers of the so-called Syrian opposition well know who their wards actually are."

He added that foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants had mined streets and entrances to premises in the eastern quarters of Aleppo, and rigged toys, cars as well as motorcycles with explosives.

Konashenkov further noted that Russian soldiers had also uncovered seven large munitions depots, enough to arm several infantry battalions, in Aleppo.

Takfiri militants execute nearly two dozen civilians in Aleppo

Separately, Syrian authorities say they have found the bodies of 21 civilians, including women and children, whom militants had executed at close range as they pulled out of Aleppo last week.

This picture shows destruction in the formerly militant-held Sukkari district in the northwestern city of Aleppo on December 23, 2016 after Syrian government forces fully retook control of the whole city. (Photo by AFP)

Doctor Zaher Hajo, the director of the forensics office of Aleppo, told Syria’s official news agency, SANA, that the bodies had been found in prisons run by the terrorist groups in al-Sukkari and al-Kalasseh neighborhoods of the city, adding that they bore wounds of gunshots fired at very close range.

There were five children and four women among the discovered corpses.

On December 20, scores of Aleppans, who had arrived at the Syrian army’s checkpoints in Jisr al-Haj Bridge, gave accounts of summary executions of civilians by terrorists from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.

Number of Aleppo evacuees reaches 44,000

Meanwhile, Turkey's presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, says the number of people who have left Aleppo and moved to the militant-held city of Idlib over the past three weeks has hit 44,000.

Turkey's presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin (Photo by Anadolu news agency)

He added that 200 of the evacuees had been brought to Turkey for medical treatment.

The Syrian army announced on December 22 that government forces had wrested full control over Aleppo after the last batch of civilians and militants were evacuated from the city.

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