Iraq recovers remains of 139 likely IS victims from mass grave

MOSUL, Iraq: Iraqi authorities have removed the remains of 139 people from a large pit believed to contain victims of the Islamic State group (IS), an official said on Sunday.

The Alo Antar hole -- a natural desert feature turned into a mass grave by IS jihadists-- is located in Tal Afar, some 70-kms west of Mosul in northern Iraq.

It is not known how many bodies were dumped in the pit, but search efforts for other victims are ongoing.

“We have removed the remains of 139 persons and also human body parts,” said Dia Karim, director of the mass graves department at the Foundation of Martyrs -- a government institution tasked with finding mass graves and identifying remains.

“They include women and men,” Karim said, adding that “according to testimonies, the victims date back to IS rule” or before when al-Qaeda was present in the area.

Testimonies also suggest, according to Karim, that “the victims are Yazidis, Shiite Turkmen and security forces personnel from Mosul,” the de facto capital of IS´s self-declared “caliphate”.

At its peak, the group ruled over swathes of Syria and Iraq, while its fighters committed beheadings, torture and enslavement, turning life into a living hell and leaving behind many mass graves.

In northern Iraq, they committed some of their worst atrocities against the Yazidis -- an ethnic and religious minority -- including mass executions and sexual slavery.