More than 1,000 bodies of Islamic State terrorists and civilians found in Mosul’s Old City

Over 1,000 bodies were found in a campaign launched to search for bodies in the Old City of Mosul and the banks of Tigris River, a security source from the civil defense department said on Thursday.

“The search and rescue teams of the civil defense started today a new campaign to search for bodies in the Old City under the rubble and the banks on Tigris River,” the soure told Almaalomah website.

“At least 1,468 decayed bodies were found. Some of them were for civilians, while others were believed to be for Islamic State members as heavy machines were found next to the bodies,” he added.

On Monday, security sources were quoted saying that over forty bodies were found under the rubble in west Mosul, near Iraqi borders.

Earlier this month, the governor of Nineveh province announced that the Old City in Mosul has been declared to be empty of bodies under the rubble.

The total number of recovered bodies since end of war in Mosul against Islamic State, that ended more than ten months ago, reached 9,000, according to municipal sources.

Thousands of Islamic State militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group, which declared a self-styled “caliphate” from Mosul in June 2014.

Source: Iraqi News