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Iraq exhumes about 600 bodies at ISIL massacre site

Wednesday, 10 June 2015 10:18 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 10 June 2015 11:01 PM ]

Members of the Iraqi security forces work at the site of a mass grave containing the remains of people slain by ISIL Takfiri terrorists at the Speicher camp in the city of Tikrit, on April 12, 2015. (AFP)

The remains of around 600 soldiers executed by ISIL Takfiri terrorists have been found in Iraq, an official says.

“The remains of 597 Speicher martyrs have been exhumed," AFP quoted Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammed al-Bayati as saying in the capital Baghdad on Wednesday.

In June 2014, Takfiri militants attacked the Speicher military base close to northern city of Tikrit and captured hundreds of young recruits.

According to pictures and video footage later released by the Takfiris, the hostages were mostly lined up in various locations and slaughtered.

After government troops freed Tikrit from the hands of the terrorists in April, they found large numbers of remains mostly buried in shallow mass graves.

Officials estimate that 1,700 people were killed by the militants at the military base.

On June 1, the ministry announced that it had found a mass grave containing the remains of over 80 Izadis in the al-Jadaa village located in the western part of Nineveh province.

Over the last few months, a number of mass graves containing the remains of Izadis have also been found by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.