Iraq exhumes remains of 47 from Tikrit graves: spokesman

Iraq has exhumed the remains of 47 people believed to have been massacred by jihadists from mass graves in Tikrit, the human rights ministry’s spokesman Kamel Amin said Tuesday. Amin said they are believed to have been victims of the infamous Speicher massacre, named for the military base near which up to 1,700 mostly Shiite recruits were abducted by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group last year. But DNA testing is required to confirm their identity, he said. The killing of the recruits – which the jihadist group documented in photos and videos posted online – stoked widespread anger and helped rally support for the battle against IS. The mass grave sites were discovered after Iraqi forces retook the city of Tikrit last week in their biggest victory so far against IS.

The number of remains that were exhumed so far is 47, and they were found in 11 mass graves.

Kamel Amin, human rights ministry’s spokesman

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitaries battled militants from the Islamic State jihadist group in Tikrit on Tuesday, the interior ministry said, a week after the city was declared retaken. The Iraqi forces launched a raid on the basis of intelligence that there were between eight and 15 IS members in a hideout in the Qadisiya area of north Tikrit, the ministry said in a statement on the day’s operations. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the “liberation” of Tikrit on March 31, but Interior Minister Mohammed al-Ghaban said the following day that “pockets” of IS fighters remained.

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