Opening of the largest mass grave in Mosul

According to Russia Today, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council reported that the President of the Nineveh Court of Appeals, the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation, the presiding judge of the Mass Graves Protection Committee in the province, and several other officials attended the operation to open the mass grave.

Al-Khasfa is known as a deep geological crevice in Mosul that ISIS used during its occupation of the city to dispose of its executed victims. According to Iraqi media estimates, the mass grave contains between 2,000 and 4,000 bodies.

In this context, Governor Abdul Qader Dakhil and Judge Raed Hamid Musleh officially announced the beginning of the opening of the Al-Khasfa mass grave.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Dakhil wrote: “During the executions of our province’s residents, the terrorists committed an unprecedented crime. The number of martyrs has reached 20,000, from various ethnic and religious communities.”

He added: “With the cooperation of the Court of Appeals, the Forensic Medicine Department, the Martyrs Foundation, and the Directorate of Mass Graves, we have completed the first stage of opening the grave. We hope that the University of Mosul has taken the necessary steps to conduct biological studies of this pit so that we can identify all the remains.”

Dakhil concluded: “We will work to establish a memorial at this site, or another location, to honor the martyrs of Al-Khasfa and commemorate this horrific massacre.”