ERBIL, KRI, Iraq (North Press) – The exhumation of a mass grave of Yazidi victims killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) began on Saturday in the Yazidi-majority district of Sinjar (Shengal), northwestern Iraq.
A source in the Department of Mass Graves Affairs and Protection of the Martyrs Foundation in Iraq said that a mass grave will be exhumed in the Hamedan area, east of Sinjar. It is expected to contain the remains of about 40 victims killed by ISIS.
The remains of the graves will be matched with surviving family members based on DNA sampling, the source added.
ISIS members committed dozens of massacres in Sinjar when they attacked the Yazidi-majority area in the summer of 2014.
According to the information, more than 80 mass graves have been found in Sinjar containing hundreds of Yazidi victims. Exhumation on most them has not started yet.
Eighty-two mass graves have been found in Sinjar since ISIS attacked the area, in addition to tens of single graves, according to media reports.
The Department of Mass Graves Affairs and Protection of the Martyrs Foundation in Iraq supervises such exhumations.
Traditional Yazidi music is played and religious prayers are said before starting exhuming mass graves holding the remains of victims of the genocide against the Yazidis.
