Bone by bone, Iraqis unearth a mass grave: ‘We will be out there digging until no one is left’
“Many of the bodies, the hands were tied. They were blindfolded and shot in the forehead,” said Omar Hasan as he surveyed remains scattered beside a sinkhole Islamic State had turned into a mass grave. A captain in a local Sunni tribal militia that polices the area around the village of Al Houd since it […]Molly Hennessy-Fiske writes for LA Times:
“Many of the bodies, the hands were tied. They were blindfolded and shot in the forehead,” said Omar Hasan as he surveyed remains scattered beside a sinkhole Islamic State had turned into a mass grave.
A captain in a local Sunni tribal militia that polices the area around the village of Al Houd since it was freed in November, Hasan helped excavate the mass grave, where locals found 25 remains. But land mines planted by Islamic State have already killed some volunteers.
Hasan suspects the sinkhole was used to dump victims from Al Houd until last year. Excavators have found women’s veils, children’s clothes and severed heads. So far, none of the remains have been identified.
