ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An investigation into mass graves made by Islamic State (ISIS) militants concluded that between 5,200 and 15,000 people are buried in 72 mass graves in territory the militants formerly controlled.
The survey was carried out by the Associated Press, which documented and mapped 72 mass graves and also gathered testimonies from survivors of these ISIS atrocities.
This study is the most comprehensive done to date and gives an idea of the scale of the crimes ISIS committed in territory it previously controlled. However, areas containing mass graves still remain too dangerous for a comprehensive excavation, meaning the true number of ISIS victims in these territories the group previously controlled remains unclear.
AP estimates that the number of deceased buried in the mass graves could be as high as 15,000, a figure it describes as “staggering”.
In Northern Iraq’s Nineveh province new evidence is coming to light on the true scale of atrocities ISIS leveled against members of the minority Yezidi community and Shiite Muslims, both of whom are heretics in the eyes of ISIS.
In Syria, 17 mass graves were documented, one of which contained hundreds of bodies belonging to a single tribe ISIS wiped out for opposing their rule.
As ISIS loses more territory in both Iraq and Syria more mass graves and signs of their atrocities in these areas are expected to be uncovered.
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