MOSUL: Iraqi authorities have removed the remains of 139 people from a large pit believed to contain victims of Daesh, an official said on Sunday.
The Alo Antar hole — a natural desert feature turned into a mass grave by Daesh extremists — is located in Tal Afar, some 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of Mosul in northern Iraq.
It is not known how many bodies were dumped in the pit, but search efforts for other victims are ongoing.
“We have removed the remains of 139 persons and also human body parts,” said Dia Karim, director of the mass graves department at the Foundation of Martyrs — a government institution tasked with finding mass graves and identifying remains.
“They include women and men,” Karim said, adding that “according to testimonies, the victims date back to Daesh rule” or before when Al-Qaeda was present in the area.
Testimonies also suggest, according to Karim, that “the victims are Yazidis, Shiite Turkmen and security forces personnel from Mosul,” the de facto capital of Daesh’s self-declared “caliphate.”
At its peak, the group ruled over swathes of Syria and Iraq, while its fighters committed beheadings, torture and enslavement, turning life into a living hell and leaving behind many mass graves.
In northern Iraq, they committed some of their worst atrocities against the Yazidis — an ethnic and religious minority — including mass executions and sexual slavery.
Ahmed Assadi from the Foundation of Martyrs said the victims “were not buried but dumped in the hole,” whose full depth ranges between 42 and 12 meters.
“Some of the victims had been shot and others were found with their throats cut,” and several bodies were found in body bags.
Assadi added that some of the clothing found on them indicated that they might have been Yazidis or Turkmen, adding that other bodies were found in orange jumpsuits of the kind typically worn by Daesh hostages.
The bodies recovered from Alo Antar were taken to forensic departments to be identified using DNA testing.
The mass grave was discovered after Iraqi forces retook control of the area in 2017, but the work to recover the bodies only started in May of this year.
Iraqi authorities frequently announce the discovery of mass graves of Daesh victims, as well as those containing Daesh extremists themselves and others dating to the rule of dictator Saddam Hussein, but the identification process is slow, costly and complicated.
The United Nations estimates the extremists left behind more than 200 mass graves which might contain as many as 12,000 bodies.
A similar but much larger sinkhole known as Al-Khasfa in northern Iraq is also thought to contain the bodies of many Daesh victims.
In northern Syria, a 50-meter-deep gorge has been used as a dumping site for dead bodies during and after Daesh rule, according to a 2020 Human Rights Watch report.
Iraq recovers remains of 139 likely Daesh victims from mass grave
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Iraq recovers remains of 139 likely Daesh victims from mass grave
- The Alo Antar hole — a natural desert feature turned into a mass grave by Daesh extremists — is located in Tal Afar
American Airlines suspends flights to Israel until April 2025
- Several international airlines have either halted flights to Tel Aviv or rerouted to avoid airspace affected by Israel's war with Hamas and Hezbollah
LONDON: American Airlines announced the suspension of all flights to and from Israel until April 2025, citing heightened fears of regional instability, according to a report by the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday.
The decision reflected broader concerns over potential escalation in the Middle East, which have led several international airlines to either halt flights to Tel Aviv or reroute to avoid affected airspace.
Among the airlines that have suspended flights are Delta Air Lines, EasyJet, Ryanair, Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, Aegean Airlines, airBaltic, Air India, Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific, Tarom, Vueling, and ITA Airways.
In contrast, El Al Israel Airlines, which has maintained its operations, reported a nearly 150% increase in profits on Thursday, benefiting from its near-monopoly status as foreign carriers pull out.
The Israeli national airline has faced criticism from customers both domestically and internationally, who accuse it of price-gouging amid the ongoing crisis.
Biden says Gaza ceasefire ‘still possible’
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Sunday that a Gaza ceasefire remained a possibility, despite Israel and Hamas trading blame as top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv to push a deal.
Biden told reporters after spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat that talks were still underway and that “we’re not giving up,” adding that an accord was “still possible.”
Russia says US-led coalition’s jet came “dangerously” close to its plane in Syria
- “The Russian crew, demonstrating high professionalism, promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision”
MOSCOW: A fighter-bomber jet of the US-led coalition in Syria came “dangerously” close to a Russian surveillance aircraft over Homs province on Sunday, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported, citing a Russian military official in the Middle Eastern country.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Daesh, which in 2014 seized large swaths of both countries but was later pushed back.
“A coalition F/A-18 fighter-bomber came into dangerous contact with an An-30 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was carrying out a scheduled flight in Syrian airspace,” TASS quoted Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, as saying.
“The Russian crew, demonstrating high professionalism, promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision.”
The incident took place over the Al-Tanf region of Homs, TASS said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.
The US Department of Defense has not immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
The United States has a military base in Syria’s Al-Tanf region across the border from Jordan.
US Centcom says it destroyed one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle in Yemen
CAIRO: US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday its forces successfully destroyed one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
The Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships they perceive as bound to or related to Israel or the United States since November to show their support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
From paradise to hell: Aegean village stunned after Turkiye fire
- At least 43 buildings were damaged in Izmir, while 26 people were hospitalized with injuries related to the blaze
SANCAKLI, Turkiye: A picturesque village perched high on the slopes of hills offered a stunning sea panorama on Turkiye’s western coast — until the engulfing flames turned the scene from paradise to a nightmare.
Fires have ripped through forests and steep valleys around Turkiye’s third most-populous city Izmir in recent days.
Abdullah Ozata was desperate to see the scale of the damage when he returned to his nearby village of Sancakli, one of the areas where residents were evacuated to avoid the rushing flames.
“Twelve of my sheep and 50 chickens have perished in the blaze” that roared across the landscape, he told AFP, while showing the remains of burnt animals, turned into ash.
“I lost all my livestock,” the 43-year-old lamented as he walked among the debris. “I neither have another job nor another source of income.”
Two officials from the finance ministry photographed the damage and recorded Ozata’s loss for the compensation claim.
“The gendarmerie evacuated us against the human loss but I lost my animals,” he said.
“Our village was pretty, it was like a paradise, but it has turned into a hell.”
After four days of raging flames spread by strong winds, the fire has largely been brought under control, authorities said Sunday.
But the fire — the biggest Turkiye has seen yet this summer — has left huge areas of charred and blackened land, destroying olive trees, gardens and beehives.
At least 43 buildings were damaged in Izmir, while 26 people were hospitalized with injuries related to the blaze.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said that efforts to douse hotspots were continuing but that the flames were now largely controlled in one place.
Gokhan Cekmez was evacuated during the fire, but defied official orders to slip back into the village through a river in an effort to battle the flames.
“I played hide-and-seek with the gendarmerie, and without me and other villagers, the scale of the damage would have been much more serious,” the 35-year-old said.
“The outside help was not enough. We tried hard to put out the fire with pots and plates.”
In Sancakli the water was just beginning to run again on Sunday, after pipes were burned by the blaze, and authorities were still repairing the electricity cables damaged by the fire.
Local administrator Ilhan Kaya said agriculture and animal breeding were the only source of income for the 200-strong village.
“The villagers have to survive with the help of the state for at least six months, we will wait for the burned areas to turn green,” Kaya said.
Gulhan Arasa, wearing a flowered headscarf on the terrace of her three-story house, was still haunted by the nightmare of the fire.
“I wish authorities would let me (help), even though I am a woman, I would take a hose and work to extinguish the fire,” she said.
“We were panicked when we were besieged by the flames that literally spread in seconds,” she said.
Arasa and her family, who rely on animal husbandry for their income, managed to keep around 100 sheep and goats in their shelter during the fire.
“Thank God, they’re all alive. We didn’t let them out because we were circled by the flames,” she said.
But other than that, she said, “everything has turned to ashes.”
“We expect the state to cover our losses. We want new saplings to be planted instead of our burnt saplings, we want trees to be planted instead of our burning trees.”
“God will help, the soil will renew itself, but when? I don’t know.”
