A funeral was held in Iraq on Tuesday for 78 people who were murdered by ISIS outside the northern city of Mosul during the extremists' takeover of the city in 2014.
The victims, were among the 605 recovered from a mass grave over the past two years, said Dhia Kareem, head of the Mass Graves Department at the state-run Foundation of Martyrs.
They had been prisoners in Badush jail before it was stormed by ISIS gunmen.
“The process of opening the graves took more than two years and resulted in the removal of 605 bodies,” Mr Kareem said in a statement. He added 401 body parts and 204 full bodies were recovered.
“They were handed over to the Medical Legal Directorate for identification as they had been exposed to events like floods and climate change,” he said.
Only 78 bodies have been identified through DNA tests so far, and a funeral procession was held for them at Baghdad’s Martyr Monument.
Wrapped in Iraqi flags, the wooden coffins were carried on military pickups.
Grieving families held pictures of their loved ones and said their goodbyes.
When ISIS seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and other strongholds in the north and west of the country in June 2014, the militants carried out killings of hundreds of members of the security forces and civilians.
Among them were the inmates from Badush prison outside Mosul.
Survivors told the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in October 2014 that gunmen moved up to 1,500 inmates on to pickups and drove them to an isolated stretch of desert about two kilometres from the prison.
An HRW report based on interviews with 15 survivors said the terrorists forced those who were Shiite to kneel on the edge of a ravine before shooting them dead with machineguns.
They were separated from several hundred Sunnis and a small number of Christians who were later set free. A number of Kurdish and Yazidi prisoners were also killed, the report said.
The prisoners were serving sentences for crimes ranging from murder and assault to non-violent offences.
Between 30 and 40 survived, mostly by rolling into the valley and pretending to be dead, or being shielded by the bodies of others, it said.
Several wounded men died while trying to crawl away.
Gunmen then lit fires around the ravine.
During that time, ISIS murdered about 1,700 soldiers and military personnel captured from Camp Speicher outside Tikrit city, north of Baghdad.
Thousands of Yazidis were also killed or enslaved.
The extremist group captured large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared it a 'caliphate'.
Backed by a US-led coalition, Iraq announced victory over ISIS in late 2017 after three years of fighting that left many of the occupied cities in ruins.
Dozens of mass graves have since been discovered in various parts of Iraq, mainly around the Yazidi hometown of Sinjar.
Iraqi officials said identifying the dead by their remains could take years.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
FIXTURES
All games 6pm UAE on Sunday:
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Burnley v Brighton
Chelsea v Wolves
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Everton v Bournemouth
Leicester v Man United
Man City v Norwich
Newcastle v Liverpool
Southampton v Sheffield United
West Ham v Aston Villa
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21
- Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
- Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
- Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
- Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
- Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
- Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
- Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
- Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
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6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
