Mass grave near ISIS-held Mosul under scanner

‘Likely to hold 100 bodies, many of them decapitated’.

Iraqi investigators were probing a mass grave on Tuesday that was discovered the previous day by troops advancing further into the Islamic State-held territory near the city of Mosul, where soldiers have captured a sliver of land but later halted their advance.

The chilling find was the latest instance of mass graves being uncovered on ground wrested from ISIS militants. In Iraq and Syria so far, the group has killed thousands of people in extrajudicial killings, the graves a dark testimony to its brutality.

AP footage from the site shows bones and decomposed bodies among scraps of clothing and plastic bags dug out of the ground by a bulldozer after Iraqi troops noticed the strong smell while advancing into the town of Hamam al-Alil on Tuesday.

“Investigators flew in this morning and are on their way to the grave to conduct examinations and determine the cause of death,” said Cabinet official Haider Majeed, in charge of mass grave investigations.

The first officials at the site said the grave, behind an earthen embankment near an agricultural college, likely held about 100 bodies, many of them decapitated. The town lies some 30 kilometres from Mosul.

Meanwhile, a top security official said on Tuesday that Kurdish forces had recaptured Bashiqa from the Islamic State group, one of final steps in securing the eastern approaches to the jihadist-held Mosul.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters launched an assault on Bashiqa the day before, advancing on the town from three sides as the battle to retake Mosul, the last ISIS-held Iraqi city, entered its fourth week.