Iraqi forces uncover mass grave in push for Mosul

Iraqi forces have found a mass grave containing the remains of suspected victims of Daesh executions in a village recently retaken from the Takfiri terrorists near Mosul.

A team of AFP journalists visited the site behind a small sand-covered hill outside the village of Tall adh Dhahab about 10 km south of Mosul on Friday, the news agency said.

Iraqi Lieutenant Yahya Jumma said locals believe that some 40 people may be buried at the ground.

"The majority of the victims were members of the security forces, army and police," he said, adding the terrorists brought them by pickup trucks.

"There were around 40 people according to eyewitnesses who saw them,” he said.

The visiting journalists reported meter-high mounds at the entrance to the shallow pit and an overpowering stench with bone fragments scattered around the area. They said scraps of clothing and several bullet casings could be seen at the site.

Iraqi forces have discovered a number of Daesh mass graves in the country’s liberated districts, among them the one found last week near the agricultural college of the town of Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul.

Authorities are conducting an investigation at the site with Human Rights Watch estimating that the graveyard could contain some 300 bodies.

Meanwhile, Hashd al-Shaabi forces on Friday said that they were set to cut the road to Syria that has been used by Daesh as a supply route over the past two years.

“We are now in the process of cutting the main supply road between Mosul and Raqqah, which runs behind the [Tal Afar] airport,” commander Shiekh Abu Karra Abadi told the Middle East Eye news portal.

"It was crucial for us to clear all this area to the west and cut the road so the Iraqi army can clear Mosul of Daesh without them being able to flee," he added.

The volunteer forces wrested control of Tal Afar airport in western Mosul late on Wednesday.

ME