Mass grave of 200 bodies found in eastern countryside of Raqqa

Raqqa- North-Press Agency

Mustafa al-Khalil

On Monday, the "Initial Response Team" in the city of Raqqa found a new mass grave containing dozens of bodies believed to belong to people executed by the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS), near the agricultural fields in Tal Zidan village, adjacent to the village of Raqqa Samra, 6km east of the city.

Yasser al-Khamis, the leader of the response team affiliated to the Raqqa Civil Council, told North-Press that the team recovered 6 bodies from the mass grave today, noting that the majority of the bodies belong to men over the age of 25.

Al-Khamis indicated that the number of corpses expected to be in the new mass grave is 200, pointing out that farmers and people from the village of "Raqqa Samra" have informed the response team in Raqqa about the presence of a pit containing corpses.

He added that after the examination of the pit by the Department of Forensic Medicine, they headed towards it after the completion of the "al-Salhabiya al-Gharbiya" mass grave, which they finished yesterday, where 145 bodies were recovered.

The number of graves discovered so far in the city of Raqqa and its countryside has reached 25, in which 5,780 bodies were found, according al-Khamis.