Excavation of Iraq’s largest mass grave begins near Mosul
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Iraqi authorities have started excavating the Khasfa mass grave near Mosul, believed to contain over 4,000 ISIS victims, including Yazidis, soldiers, and civilians.
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People visit a mass grave for the victims of ISIS in Mosul, Iraq on Thursday, July 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Farid Abdulwahed)
Iraqi authorities have started excavation work at the Khasfa site near Mosul, believed to be the country’s largest mass grave left behind by the ISIS terror group. Officials say the grave may contain thousands of victims, including soldiers, Yazidis, and civilians.
The project was launched on August 10, with the first phase focusing on surface-level excavation, project director Ahmed al-Assadi told AFP. Additionally, an AFP correspondent at the site reported that the team has already uncovered human skulls buried in the sand.
Khasfa lies close to Mosul, which served as ISIS' stronghold and the declared capital of its so-called “caliphate” before its defeat in Iraq in late 2017.
Assadi explained that while there are no precise figures for the number of victims, a 2018 UN report described Khasfa as Iraq’s largest mass grave. Official estimates suggest that at least 4,000 people may have been buried there, with the real number possibly much higher, per AFP. Eyewitness accounts collected by Iraq’s Mass Graves Directorate indicated that the sinkhole may contain up to 6,000 bodies.
According to Assadi, the victims include “soldiers executed by IS,” members of the Yazidi minority, and residents of Mosul. In one of the deadliest massacres, Iraqi authorities say IS executed 280 people in a single day in 2016, many of them interior ministry employees.
Challenges in exhuming bodies from Khasfa
The site presents significant challenges for forensic teams. Underground sulphur water has made the soil porous, complicating excavation and preservation of remains. Assadi noted that the water may have eroded human remains, making DNA identification particularly difficult.
The sinkhole is estimated at around 150 meters deep and 110 meters wide, requiring further studies before deeper excavation can begin.
According to the United Nations, ISIS left behind more than 202 mass graves across Iraq, containing as many as 12,000 bodies. These sites are concentrated in Anbar, Kirkuk, Salahuddin, and Nineveh provinces, areas where IS once held territory.
Excavation efforts have been slow. By 2024, Iraqi authorities had managed to open only 29 of 114 known ISIS-related grave sites. One major effort in May 2024 uncovered at least 162 bodies at a mass grave in Tel Afar district, after nearly two years of preparatory work due to dangerous terrain and unexploded ordnance.
Iraq’s mass graves beyond IS atrocities
The legacy of mass graves in Iraq, however, extends beyond ISIS crimes. Saddam Hussein’s regime carried out systematic killings, including the Anfal campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s and the brutal suppression of the 1991 uprising, leaving behind hundreds of burial sites.
Human rights organizations estimate that more than 300,000 people, mainly Kurds and Shia Muslims, were killed and buried in mass graves during Saddam’s 23-year rule. Today, Iraq is considered one of the countries with the highest numbers of missing persons, with estimates ranging between 250,000 and 1 million people.
