Mass grave reportedly discovered in Iraq containing remains of 643

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A mass grave was reportedly discovered on Sunday, west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, believed to contain the remains of at least 643 people.

The site was uncovered about five kilometers north of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in Anbar province.

According to Al Arabiya, quoting an official source from the Forensic Medicine Department in Ramadi, the victims belong to the al-Muhamdah tribe, who had disappeared in 2016.

Iraqi security forces and the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), notably liberated Fallujah from the so-called Islamic State in 2016, shortly before the Muhamdah tribe went missing.

The tribe’s disappearance raised suspicions about the PMF’s involvement, prompting human rights organizations to criticize the militias for carrying out rights abuses and revenge killings against Sunnis it perceived of having ties to the Islamic State.

In a 2018 report of Middle East and North African nations, in reference to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with perceived or suspected connections to the Islamic State, Amnesty International said various security forces, including PMF militias, “regularly arrested and forcibly disappeared” civilians.

The report specifically cited “the abduction and forcible disappearance by PMF militias of 643 men and boys from Saqlawiya in Anbar governorate.”

The Iraqi government was supposed to organize a committee to launch an investigation into the disappearance in 2016, but the findings have not yet been made public

Established in 2014 to fight the terror group, the PMF was formally incorporated into the Iraqi army in 2017. Many of its militia groups receive direct military support from neighboring Iran.

They have, however, been repeatedly accused of committing war crimes, human rights violations, and abusing people, namely in the areas liberated from the Islamic State.