The ‘odour is killing us’: Mosul residents decry festering bodies left under rubble

03-04-2021
Hiwa Hussamadin
-
-
A+ A-

MOSUL, Iraq — Nearly four years after its liberation from the Islamic State (ISIS), hundreds of bodies remain buried under the rubble of the old city of Mosul.

Bones, skulls and clothes can be seen under collapsed buildings that have yet to be cleared or repaired.

“Their odour is killing us,” Amjad Mohammed, construction worker, told Rudaw of the bodies in his neighborhood. “We can’t go back home because of the odour.”

According to the civil defence department of Nineveh province, most of the bodies found have been in the neighborhoods of al-Shahwan, al-Maidan, al-Faruq, Bab Lagash and Qle’at.

“The airstrikes were conducted randomly. The houses were old, when a rocket hit a building it led to the collapse of three other neighbouring houses,” said Jasim Mahmood, a resident of the Bab Lagash neighbourhood. “There is a strong odor in Qle’at and al-Maidan neighborhoods, especially when there is a change in the wind’s direction.”

Nineveh authorities have formed a committee to remove the corpses. So far, they have found more than 4,000 dead bodies, of which more than 2,000 are believed to be ISIS militants.

Nonetheless, works continue, with hundreds of corpses still left under the rubble. 

“Two to three bones [skeletons] emerge under the rubble on a daily basis,” said Mustafa Mawlud, a cleaner working in the area.  “Some of the dead bodies have nothing left except for their hair, gun pouches, and traces.”

Nearly 8,000 buildings were destroyed in Nineveh province during the war against ISIS, according to the mayor of Mosul. Of this, 2,600 are in Mosul and still left in ruins.

“So far, 2,763 corpses of civilians have been uncovered. They were either killed by ISIS or by airstrikes. 2,150 corpses were of ISIS militants, some of them had either explosive belts or guns close to them. Some of them had foreign IDs. They were not only Iraqis,” said Zuhair al-Araji, the city’s mayor.

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed

Comments

Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.

To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.

We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.

Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.

Post a comment

Required
Required
 

The Latest

Graphic: Rudaw

ISIS kills two members of Iraqi security forces in Diyala: Police

At least two members of the Iraqi security forces were killed overnight in a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) attack in Diyala province, a police source said on Sunday.