50+ ISIS massacre victims identified in Iraq

Shafaq News- Nineveh

Iraqi authorities on Wednesday identified 52 victims killed in the ISIS massacre at Badoush prison during the group’s 2014 takeover of Mosul, according to the head of the Mass Graves Affairs and Protection Directorate.

Mohammed Salah Al-Din told reporters the identifications followed more than four years of work involving forensic medicine teams and the Directorate. The remains were exhumed from the Badoush site in 2022 and underwent DNA testing and matching with samples provided by relatives of registered missing persons.

The issuance of identification documents allows families to obtain death certificates and complete pension and compensation procedures, while efforts continue to determine the fate of other missing persons, he added.

The Badoush massacre took place in June 2014 after ISIS seized Mosul and Badoush prison north of the city, separating inmates along sectarian lines before killing more than 670 prisoners in one of the group’s deadliest massacres in Iraq. Iraqi authorities have continued exhumation and identification efforts at ISIS-era mass grave sites across Nineveh and other provinces in recent years.

According to a 2018 report by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), at least 202 mass grave sites linked to ISIS crimes were documented in Nineveh, Kirkuk, Saladin, and Al-Anbar provinces, with the number of victims estimated at between 6,000 and 12,000.

Read more: HRW urges Iraq to intensify mass grave exhumations