Rain and stray dogs damage five mass graves in Sinjar

Shafaq News/ Heavy rains and stray dogs have damaged five mass graves in the outskirts of Sinjar district in western Nineveh province, a civil activist revealed on Saturday.

The activist, Maher Khairo, told Shafaq News Agency that the damaged graves are located in the Qazalkand area west of Sinjar. He said that the graves are estimated to contain the remains of 100 people, according to the data by humanitarian groups.

The graves date back to the period when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacked Sinjar district in August 2014.

Khairo said that civil activists visited the grave sites and documented the damage in a bid to pressure the relevant authorities to exhume the remains that probably belongs to people who have been missing for more than nine years.

The activist confirmed that only 55 graves out of 92 have been opened so far.

The Yazidis were subjected to genocide by ISIS, which killed and kidnapped hundreds of the ethno-religious minority when it took over their hometown, and nearly one third of Iraq's area, in 2014.