Mass grave uncovered near Mosul with 100 civilians

Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Joanna Crothers
Nov 08, 2016, updated Nov 08, 2016

Iraqis inspect the damage at a site in the Hamam al-Alil area, about 30km south of Mosul. Photo: Getty

Iraqi military has discovered a mass grave with the remains of about 100 beheaded civilians, according to media reports.

The mass grave was found in a school on the edge of Hammam al-Alil which had been recaptured from Islamic State on Monday, Iraq’s Joint Military Command said.

“Gangs of ISIS militants continue to commit crimes against our people,” it said in a statement.

CNN has reported that Iraq’s federal police forces and army troops attacked the IS-held town which is about 30km south of Mosul, and the last major centre on the Tigris River before Mosul on Saturday, and took the town by Monday.

Residents tell of mounting executions

From behind the curtains of his bedroom window, 29-year-old Riyad Ahmed would peer out at IS fighters dragging civilians into a makeshift jail across the street and then sending them in the middle of the night to be executed.

The former English teacher from the town of Hammam al-Alil recalls hearing victims’ cries of agony as he hid with dozens of neighbours in the shadow of one of the group’s detention centres.

Iraq’s army and federal police have been participating in a US-backed offensive launched last month to recapture the largest population centre under the jihadists’ control.

Iraqi forces retook the town of Hamam al-Alil on Monday. Photo: Getty.

As the forces advance, details of IS’s brutality and growing desperation are being reinforced by first-hand accounts of residents.

Standing on the road between his house and the jail on Monday, Ahmed told Reuters that no part of Hammam al-Alil had been spared from the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamists’ violence.

In his street alone, he said six people he knew had been executed, including his father and a family of three that lived next door.

Aid organisations, local officials and Mosul residents have cited reports that IS executed dozens of people in Hammam al-Alil and barracks nearby over the course of a week, on suspicion of planning rebellions in and around Mosul to aid the advancing troops.

Abdul Rahman al-Waggaa, a member of the Nineveh provincial council, said IS had used the town’s agricultural college as “a killing field” for hundreds of people in the days before the Iraqi government advance.

Police backed up his accounts, but the road to the college was still lined with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), preventing Reuters from visiting.

The military says its forces at the complex have discovered the decapitated corpses of at least 100 civilians.

Residents still in Hammam al-Alil told how they packed into homes with nearly 100 other people each for days to avoid being forced to flee to Mosul as IS retreated.

Thousands of civilians, including many from villages further south who had been forced to serve as human shields for the jihadists, escaped to government camps over the weekend while others were forced deeper into IS-held territory.