Iraq: about 12,000 bodies in the mass graves of the Islamic State

The envoy of Jan Kubi to the UN evoked "atrocious human losses, hardships and shocking cruelty": in former control zones of the jihadist militia of the Islamic State (EI) in Iraq, more than 200 mbad graves containing bodies of up to 12,000 victims of the extremist group were discovered,

Of the 202 mbad graves, only 28 were searched and more than 1,250 were exhumed in the UN report. The United Nations Mission in Iraq (Unami) called on local authorities in a report to carry out comprehensive searches of the sites to give families certainty about the fate of their loved ones.

For loved ones, it is important that funerals have some certainty about the circumstances of death. The mbad graves could also help deal with the crimes of the IS.

The militia of the Islamic State conquered vast areas of Iraq in 2014 and killed thousands of police, soldiers and civilians. After fierce fighting, the Iraqi army and Kurdish and Shiite allied militias managed to take over all regions with international support last year.