25 corpses exhumed in mass graves left by ISIS

During two years of work, the initial response team of al-Raqqa Civil Council managed to find 29 mass graves left by ISIS mercenaries, 25 of which were opened, and 5,700 bodies exhumed.

5 February, 2020 06:04

AL-RAQQA –AHMED AL-ASSAF

After liberating the city of al-Raqqa from ISIS mercenaries in October 2017, the initial response team began its work to exhume bodies from the rubble and from the streets, where a large number of mass graves left by ISIS were found.

Cemeteries differ in the way they are buried and in the type of corpses, some of which contain the bodies of mercenaries, some of which contain women and children, and some that contain people who have been executed and buried only with dirt.

According to the team’s report, there are some bodies that indicate that they are foreign journalists, but there is no DNA analysis equipment for the body to be identified.

These tombs uncovered by the team were located on the banks of the Euphrates, in al-Badia, and inside the city, especially within public parks.

Mass graves were also found among Arab homes in Bedouin neighborhood, the neighborhood that remained under the ISIS occupation until it was liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

5,700 bodies were exhumed by the initial response team after they were notified by the people who were witnessing their burial, including those who had doubts about the existence of a cemetery.

The head of the initial response team, Yasser al-Khamis, told ANHA: "Since the liberation of the area, this team has been formed, whose work is not limited to exhume the bodies, but the detection of a large number of mass graves, as they reached 29 graves, 25 graves were opened, and work is ongoing until this moment in the cemetery of al-Sahl in the southwestern countryside of al-Raqqa. "

Al-Khamis indicated that "the bodies in the graves were not only for field executions, but there were children and women among them, and according to the people close to the graves that there were foreign people who were executed, and they are expected to be journalists."

Al-Khamis, he stated that there are good experiences with the response team on how to deal with the dead bodies. "There are also forensic pathologists who are examining the bodies to try to identify the owner of them, but the majority of the bodies cannot be identified because of their deformation, and the lack of a device that can examine the DNA (Through which the identity of the body owner is revealed. "

On Thursday, he said, "700 of the 5,700 bodies have been identified, as they were found in possession of identification documents or clothing that was not damaged after burial."

It is worth noting that thousands of al-Raqqa residents are still searching for the bodies of their relatives, who were lost during the battles in al-Raqqa.

(T/S)

ANHA