Iraqi forces found six mass graves in Mousl’s liberates areas

Iraqi security forces found six mass graves during their inspection of the areas liberated recently from the grip of extremist ISIS group in the western side of Mousl. Meanwhile Jordanian King Abdullah revealed the major issues scheduled to be discussed during the coming Arab Summit due to be held in Amman on March 29.

The graves exist in the public gardens, parks and soccer arenas, as over eight hundred bodies have been buried there, as they have been killed by the extremist group. According to Iraqi soldiers, they prefer to spend their break in the front lines due to the horrible smell emitted from the surrounding areas of the graves.

Member of local council of Mousl Ahmed Al Hamadani said that the remains of hundreds of mainly Shia inmates killed by Islamic State militants when they overran a prison in northern Iraq more than two years ago have been unearthed by forces retaking the area from the group.

An Iraqi Shia paramilitary group made the discovery after driving the militants from the Badush area where the prison is located, as part of a wider US-backed campaign to dislodge Islamic State from the city of Mosul.

As an array of forces dismantle Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate across Iraq and Syria, more evidence is emerging of the war crimes committed by the Sunni Islamist militants, who targeted Shia Muslims and religious minorities as well as opponents from their own sect.

“Initial checks of part of the mass grave revealed remains with prison uniforms and lined up in a way that indicates they were shot dead in groups,” said Karim Nouri, spokesman for the Hashid Shaabi, a state-run umbrella for Shia paramilitary groups.

One of those groups – the Abbas Division – is fighting alongside the regular Iraqi army, which in recent days jointly completed the encirclement of Mosul, about 10km (6 miles) southeast of Badush. The militants used the prison to hold their own captives including thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority, but blew it up some time before Iraqi forces drew near.

the Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell announced that elite Counter-Terrorism Forces also took over al-Aghawat district, near Mosul’s Old City. Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations, after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced launching an offensive to liberate the western side of the city of Mosul, in addition to capturing the last stronghold of the Islamic State in the city.

In Anbar, military leader Mahmoud Al Felahi revealed that a force from Anbar operations and other security agencies found a camp for training ISIS elements, saying that they killed four suicide attackers and destroyed three bombing wheels and a motorcycle. He revealed that the operation has been conducted in cooperation with the International Coalition’s fighter jets.

Spokesperson of Joint Special Operation Command Yahia Rasool revealed that the Iraqi troops managed to control over 65 percent of the city’s right bank, saying that they resume advance in a number of districts to liberate them, as the extremist militias withdrew from the city.

On the political side, Jordanian King Abdullah said that the coming Arab Summit scheduled to be held in Amman will focus on the Syrian crisis, Palestinian issue and the situation in Libya and Iraq in addition to the fight against extremism.

He stressed the need for working to support the Arab joint work during the current period to face the challenges facing the region as whole in the framework of the consecutive developments on the political and international level.