Iraqis bury their dead in cemetery destroyed by IS

Sabriya Hammad buried her son in a cemetery that was destroyed by the same people who killed him.

Sitting on cardboard and surrounded by relatives, Hammad sobbed quietly over the mound of earth and rocks beneath a sky darkened by oil well fires set weeks ago by Islamic State fighters. The graveyard south of Mosul is littered with smashed headstones — also demolished by the militants.

Iraqi forces drove the extremists out of Qayara last summer as they pushed toward militant-held Mosul, the country's second-largest city and the focus of an offensive launched Oct. 17. But months after the fighters withdrew, residents of Qayara are still coming to terms with the destruction left behind, and the casualties of war are still being laid to rest.