At least 14 bodies exhumed from ISIS mass grave in Raqqa

At least 14 bodies have been exhumed from Panorama mass graves near the northeastern city of Raqqa, once the capital Daesh’s (ISIS) self-styled caliphate, Kurdish-run news site reported Thursday.

Raqqa was liberated in a U.S.-backed campaign that ended more than a year ago, but rescuers and recovery teams continue to locate mass graves around Raqqa.

More than two months after digging began in the Panorama mass grave, forensic teams continue to lift bodies believed to have been buried there during the four-month campaign to liberate Raqqa.

Since November, that 760 bodies had been exhumed from Panorama mass grave as estimates put the number of bodies buried there at around 1,500.

Since the fall of Raqqa in October 2017, the local organizations and civil community have been working to rehabilitate and reconstruct the city.

So far, 2,600 bodies have been exhumed from mass graves in the areas of Al-Rasheed Stadium, the zoo, Bedouin Neighborhood, and Ancient Mosque, Al-Arian told a local radio station, according to The Initial Response Team in Raqqa.

Last April, Raqqa’s local council transferred two mass graves containing 500 bodies of civilians and Islamic State jihadists out of the city.

Abdul Aziz al-Metleq, Raqqa-based activist, said victims of the mass graves victims were not only killed by Daesh, but also by the US-led Coalition airstrikes and the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The regime forces also has found a mass graves near Tabqa air base, containing bodies of 60 troops killed by Daesh in 2014. The bodied have been moved to Aleppo military hospital.

The SDF has been the main partner of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria, helping drive the jihadists out of swathes of northern and eastern Syria last year.

Since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, more than 560,000 people have been killed, and more than 6 million people have been displaced.

Source: Zamanalwsl