RNA - "The mass grave discovered by the Iraqi forces contained 89 dead bodies of the victims of Camp Speicher," the Arabic-language Russiya al-Youm quoted an unnamed Iraqi security source as saying on Sunday.
The security source reiterated that the mass grave was found in the presidential palaces complex in the center of Tikrit, and said, "A special committee has been tasked with taking out the dead bodies for conducting DNA tests."
On June 12, 2014, ISIL terrorists killed around 1,700 Iraqi air force cadets after kidnapping them from Camp Speicher, a former US base. There were reportedly around 4,000 unarmed cadets in the camp when it came under attack by ISIL militants.
Following the abductions, the attackers took the victims to the complex of presidential palaces and killed them. The terrorists also threw some of the bodies into a river.
An investigation committee later revealed that 57 members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party aided ISIL terrorists in the massacre.
In late August, Iraqi judiciary officials hung 36 men convicted of involvement in the carnage.
Tikrit was recaptured from ISIL in March 2015. During clean-up operations in the northern part of the city, Iraqi forces found the location of the 2014 carnage.
In a relevant development in early September, Iraqi fighters of pro-government Popular Mobilization Units found three mass graves containing the remains of over two dozen victims of the June 2014 massacre by ISIL terrorists at an air force camp.
Hussein al-Asadi, the Popular Mobilization Units spokesman, said at the time that his fellow fighters had found the graves inside former dictator Saddam Hussein’s palace compound in Tikrit in the Northern province of Salahuddin, Al Sumeria reported.
Hussein al-Asadi, the Popular Mobilization Units spokesman, said that his fellow fighters had found the graves inside former dictator Saddam Hussein’s palace compound in Tikrit in the Northern province of Salahuddin, Al Sumeriya reported.
Asadi added that the mass graves contained the remains of more than 30 victims.
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