Mass grave with 50 bodies of Iraqi soldiers found in Kirkuk

The Joint Operations Command in Iraq announced that its forces have found a mass grave which included 50 bodies belonging to members of the army and police in Hawija district.

The joint operations said in a statement that ISIS executed government forces in the village of Bakara in the center of Hawija during terror attacks, launched on areas south-west of Kirkuk.

The statement added that legal procedures will be taken to investigate the cemetery and examine the remains in it.

Earlier in October, army sources said that security forces found two mass graves containing the remains of dozens of members of the army and police who were killed by armed men in the village of Abu Sakhra, southeast of Hawija.

On Oct. 8, Iraqi forces fully restored the center of al Kadhaa, located south-west of Kirkuk, from the control of the extremist organization.

For his part, the police captain of Kirkuk Hamid al-Obaidi told Anatolia that the security forces were commissioned to conduct searches and investigate the mass graves of the army and police in the province of Hawija.

Obaidi has dozens of soldiers whose fate is unknown since 2014.

In the summer of 2014, ISIS controlled large areas in the province of Diyala in the east of the country. Iraqi army forces, supported by the International coalition, carried out large-scale military operations in which they liberated the seized areas.

source: AFP