Huge hundreds-of-bodies mass grave found in Syria’s Raqqa

RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – The Initial Response Team (IRT) of Raqqa Civil Council affiliated to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said on Monday they found a huge mass grave containing hundreds of bodies believed to be killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the countryside of Syrian northern city of Raqqa.

IRT head Yasser al-Khamis told North Press, "Forensic reports confirmed the mass grave around the village of Hazima, north to Raqqa, contains bodies, mostly women and children, in addition bodies belonging to unknown military groups."

“The mas grave contains about 110 bodies,” he said.

al-Khamis added that residents of Hazima village informed the IRT about a mass grave because of strong dead bodies smell in the area.

“So the IRT forensic team headed to the site and later confirmed there was a mass grave,” he said.

al-Khamis further noted that last week the IRT was retrieving bodies from another mass grave around the village of Tel Zidan, 6 km east of Raqqa.

“So far 160 bodies have been retrieved, and the team will finish this week” he said.  

Since 2018,  IRT retrieved about 5900 bodies from 26 mass graves in the countryside and city of Raqqa.

The Islamic State (ISIS) took control of Raqqa in 2014 and made it the capital of its proclaimed caliphate, then the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S. key ally, liberated it in October 2017.

(Reporting by Ahmed al-Hassan from Raqqa; Editing by Hisham Arafat)