Local authorities in Nineveh, Iraq, on Sunday began the excavation of the Al-Khasfa mass grave believed to contain thousands of victims of the Islamic State (IS) group south of Mosul.
The first phase of the excavation work has been officially announced, which includes recovering scattered human remains, in the presence of the governor, judicial representatives, and officials from the mass graves authority.
In June 2014, Mosul, an important economic and cultural center in northern Iraq, was seized by the IS and subsequently became their stronghold. It remained under the terrorists' control until Iraqi government forces reclaimed the city in July 2017.
Estimates indicate that nearly 20,000 of victims were dumped into the pit for different reasons. On one single day, IS announced a list of 2,070 people whom it executed and buried in this grave.
The mass graves directorate confirmed that the process requires continuous efforts, including DNA testing and geological surveys of the site, particularly because of the presence of sulfuric water and the great depth of the pit, which complicates the work.
"The grave is complex because it contains Kuwaiti water and unexploded explosive devices buried with the remains by ISIS terrorist gangs, according to the information we received, in addition to the movement and instability of the soil," said Ahmed Qusay Al-Asadi, head of the mass graves excavation team.
The Al-Khasfa mass grave stands as one of the starkest testimonies to the brutality and terrorism of IS against the people of Mosul. Ironically, many of the victims thrown into the pit were local residents -- mainly Sunni Arabs -- targeted for their affiliation with state institutions and their opposition to I policies during its rule between 2014 and 2017.
Since Mosul's liberation in 2017, there have been growing calls to open the grave, identify the victims, and recover the remains for their families so they can be buried properly. However, security and financial challenges have prevented the process from taking place until now.
"Today, the reopening of this hole and this area, which has been difficult for researchers and explorers, is a historic moment to restore justice and restore rights to their owners and the families of the victims," said Mohammed Al Zakaria, a civil activist.
Ikhlas Mohammed Amin, 55, has been searching since 2016 for her missing son, Qusai Shukr Mahmoud, born in 1992, who was working in the local police force in Mosul.
Qusai was kidnapped by IS in the right side of the city, while Iraqi forces had already regained control of the left side. To this day, his family does not know his fate, whether he is alive or deceased.
"We hope to find anything about our son, whether he is dead or alive. We want to know his fate and hope for the best. It is not just me, but all mothers hope to find their son dead or alive. I have a martyr son before him, his brother. I go to his grave to console myself and cry, but about this son I can only hold his picture and cry. I do not know anything about him," the mother said.
Iraq starts excavation of mass grave for IS victims in Mosul
