Iraq's Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters uncover mass grave of hundreds near Mosul

Iraqi fighters from pro-government Popular Mobilization Units have found a mass grave at a detention facility near the northern city of Mosul, which contained the remains of hundreds of people killed by Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

The media bureau of the forces -- commonly known by the Arabic word Hashd al-Sha’abi -- announced in a statement on Saturday that the fighters had found the grave inside Badush prison, located about 10 kilometers northwest of Mosul.

The statement added that the grave “contained the remains of around 500 civilian inmates, who were executed by Daesh gangs after they controlled the prison during their occupation of Mosul.”

According to Human Rights Watch, Daesh extremists slaughtered up to 600 prisoners from Badush jail on June 10, 2014. The Takfiris forced the ill-fated inmates to kneel along a nearby ravine and then shot them dead with assault rifles.

Lawmaker Vian Dakhil, who is the only Izadi representative in the Iraqi Parliament, said at the time that Daesh terrorists had been holding more than 500 Izadi women at Badush.

Back in August 2014, Daesh terrorists overran the northwestern region of Sinjar, killing, raping, and enslaving large numbers of Izadi Kurds. The region was recaptured on November 13, 2015, during an operation by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Izadi fighters.

The Office of Kidnapped Affairs in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk says around 3,500 Izadi Kurds are held captive in Daesh-held areas, adding that a large proportion of the abductees are women and children.

Late February, a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of thousands of Iraqi security personnel killed at the hands of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists was found eight kilometers outside Mosul.

The British daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that Khasfa sinkhole was the biggest mass grave in conflict-ridden Iraq as it was the resting place of an estimated 4,000 victims.

Read more:

• Largest mass grave in Iraq found near Mosul

The body count at the natural depression outnumbers any other known sites in Iraq, especially the murder of about 1,700 Iraqi Air Force cadets in a June 2014 attack on Camp Speicher military base near the northern city of Tikrit.

Most of the ill-fated Iraqi policemen were shot and dumped into the pit just off the Baghdad-Mosul highway, while others lost their lives in vehicles driven over the edge of the sinkhole.

Iraqi army soldiers and allied Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters launched an offensive to retake Mosul last October and since then they have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements.

Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk