{"id":1060,"date":"2017-11-17T00:21:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2017-11-17T00:21:21","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T00:21:21","slug":"iraqi-forces-find-mass-graves-of-people-they-say-were-killed-by-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/11\/17\/iraqi-forces-find-mass-graves-of-people-they-say-were-killed-by-isis\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi forces find mass graves of people they say were killed by Isis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Iraqi security forces have found mass graves that could contain up to 400 bodies in an area recently retaken from the\u00a0<a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/isis\">Islamic State<\/a>\u00a0group, an Iraqi official has said.<\/p>\n<p>The bodies of civilians and security forces were found in an abandoned base near Hawija, a northern town retaken in early October, the Kirkuk governor, Rakan Saed, said on Sunday. He did not say when authorities would start exhuming the bodies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot less than 400 people were executed,\u201d he said, adding that some were clad in the uniform of prisoners condemned to death while others wore civilian clothing.<\/p>\n<p>Khalaf Luhaibi, a local shepherd who led troops to the site, said Isis brought captives to the area and shot them or poured oil over them before setting them on fire. The area was strewn with torn clothing and what appeared to be human bones and skulls.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__image-container u-responsive-ratio\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Saad Abbas, a farmer from the area, told Agence France-Presse that during the three years of Isis control the group\u2019s fighters could be seen \u201cdriving around in cars with their prisoners. They would shoot them and then throw them to the ground or burn their bodies,\u201d Abbas said.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2017\/nov\/09\/isis-ousted-syria-stronghold-albu-kamal-islamic-state-iraq\">Iraqi forces have driven Isis<\/a>\u00a0from nearly all the territory it once controlled. Authorities have already uncovered several mass graves in other newly liberated areas.<\/p>\n<p>US-backed Iraqi forces have driven the extremists from nearly all the territory they once controlled, with some fighting still under way near the western border with Syria.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Iraq\u2019s prime minister announced an operation to capture a patch of territory on the western edge of the country near the border with Syria. Hours later, the Iraqi defence ministry announced capturing the Romana area, saying the troops would head to the nearby town of Rawa.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ahmed al-Asadi, a spokesman for the Shia-majority paramilitary forces, Rawa is the last Iraqi town held by Isis, which still controls some scattered small villages in mainly desert areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iraqi security forces have found mass graves that could contain up to 400 bodies in an area recently retaken from the\u00a0Islamic State\u00a0group, an Iraqi official has said. The bodies of civilians and security forces were found in an abandoned base near Hawija, a northern town retaken in early October, the Kirkuk governor, Rakan Saed, said on Sunday. He did not&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/11\/17\/iraqi-forces-find-mass-graves-of-people-they-say-were-killed-by-isis\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1061,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}