Authorities in Iraq on Sunday began exhuming bodies from a vast natural sinkhole south of Mosul that is believed to have been turned into the country's largest mass grave by ISIS.
The Governor of Nineveh, Abdul Qadir Al Dakhil, announced the start of the first phase of the excavation of Al Khasfa cemetery, which lies in a remote area about 20km outside Mosul.
The provincial government will work to build a memorial to commemorate the victims, Mr Abdul Qadir said.
Senior judicial officials oversaw the operations, marking a long-delayed step to recover the remains of thousands of people believed to have been executed and dumped into the pit during ISIS control of the city between 2014 and 2017.
A forensics team – clad in white protective suits, gloves and masks – carefully began digging at the site. They methodically brushed away dirt and debris, documenting every step of the process. Nearby, some remains were covered with plastic sheets.
For now, authorities say the immediate task is to recover and identify the dead in the surrounding area. Forensic experts are expected to begin DNA testing once remains are retrieved.
The first phase focuses on the area surrounding the sinkhole with surface-level excavation, cleaning up, and the preservation of evidence, the General Director of Mass Graves Department at the Martyrs Foundation Dhiya Al Saiedi said.
All remains that will be exhumed will be handed over to the Forensic Medicine Department for final examination, Mr Al Saiedi added in a statement.
A woman who believes her husband's body may be buried at the site hopes the work will "bring some rest to my heart". She said in a post on Facebook that she has been waiting for closure for 11 years.
"I hope that I'll find my husband's body, even if it's just bones, so I can bury them and he'll have a grave like the martyrs to bring some rest to my heart," she said. "Only God knows the fire that is flaring in my heart."
Human Rights Watch first identified Al Khasfa in 2017, reporting that ISIS fighters turned the natural sinkhole into a killing field where they disposed of potentially thousands of victims. Later investigations by Iraqi and international groups described it as the largest mass grave linked to ISIS.
A UN-backed survey in 2018 recorded more than 200 ISIS-era mass graves across Iraq, many in and around Mosul, with an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 bodies buried.
For years, families of the missing have pressed the government to open Al Khasfa, but technical challenges, security concerns and funding delays stalled efforts.
In March, Nineveh authorities announced that they had secured money and logistical support to begin the dig, describing Al Khasfa as a "priority case” for the courts and forensics teams.
The excavation comes against the backdrop of Iraq winding down international support for war crimes investigations. The UN’s investigative team for ISIS crimes, Unitad, ended its mandate in 2024 after Baghdad declined to renew it. Rights groups have since urged Iraq to ensure evidence recovery and prosecutions continue without international oversight.
ISIS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria, in the summer of 2014, declaring a caliphate that spanned areas of both countries. During that time, the extremists led a campaign of widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Three years later, Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led international coalition, reclaimed all ISIS-held territory across the country after gruelling fighting that left thousands dead and large areas in ruin.
Hundreds of mass graves have since been discovered in various parts of Iraq, mainly around the Yazidi minority hometown of Sinjar, in the north-west. In August 2014, ISIS fighters captured Sinjar and the surrounding villages, taking thousands of Yazidis captive and killing others.
