Ninewah Governorate

The greatest number of mass grave sites so far are located within Nineveh Governorate, numbering around 95 . The province of Nineveh is multi-ethnic, home to Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmens, Kurds, and Yazidis. Within the region the majority of mass grave sites are in the districts of Mosul, Tel Afar and Sinjar, the latter of which is a Yazidi-majority district.
 
Mosul District

The district of Mosul was besieged and later controlled by ISIS forces from June 2014 until the district was liberated by the Iraqi Security Forces, over three years later in July 2017 . It is from the al-Nuri mosque within Mosul city that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his new ‘caliphate’ on 4 July 2014 .  Following the expulsion of ISIS from the district mass graves were discovered across the region, mainly near the city of Mosul . 
 
Hammam al-Alil
In November of 2016, locals discovered a mass grave in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, on a patch of wasteland that resembled a landfill . The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) used the nearby Agricultural College as a base and prison. Investigators believe the site contains civilians and security forces personnel that ISIL held and executed in mid-2014. Local excavations have uncovered over 100 bodies, some beheaded and bound. According to the Iraqi Federal Police three of the bodies wore ISF uniforms . Later in April 2017 UNAMI/OHCHR received reports that the mass grave contained 125 bodies mainly of civilians from the surrounding subdistricts of Shura and Hammam al-Alil . 

In the week following the discovery of the Agricultural College mass grave, media outlets reported on two further mass graves near the town of Hammam al-Alil . One grave was inside a well and contained over 200 bodies while a second grave held around 45 bodies. In 2017 UNAMI/OHCHR was unable to confirm the reports of these two graves . 

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Mosul City

In the al-Rashidiya neighbourhood of northern Mosul the ISF reported the discovery of a mass grave on 29 January 2017 . According to their reports the grave contained the remains of 27 Sunni Turkmen civilians killed by ISIS at some point during the occupation of Mosul. 

Later efforts within the city of Mosul to clear up the rubble in August 2017 revealed two mass graves, one in the al-Sha’areen neighbourhood and the other in Hawi al-Kanisa . The Civil Defence Corps arranged the exhumation of the bodies in the al-Sha’areen grave and found 24 civilians in plain clothes, including four women and eight children. They later handed the bodies over to the Department of Health in Mosul for forensic testing. Investigators reported the victims were civilians killed by ISIS on an undetermined date. Iraqi Federal Police unearthed the second mass grave where they found 25 bodies, some of which had been mutilated . The remains were also taken for forensic testing, where investigators identified them as civilian men killed by ISIS. 

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Badoush 
In November of 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured Mosul and thereafter stormed the central prison of Badoush (22 kilometers Northwest of Mosul) . After ISIS separated the inmates by ethnicity and religious affiliation, they freed Sunnis and executed many other inmates, including Shiite’s. ISIS buried an estimated 1000 victims at 6 different sites around and beyond the prison complex. Investigators later discovered the sites in August 2017. By June 2021, they recovered 123 human remains from one of the graves with the intention of identifying them from DNA samples investigators collected from suspected family members. 
 
ISIS may have taken some detainees to the Al Khafsa sinkhole (20.5 km SE of Badoush)  to execute them and dump the bodies. Investigators discovered the site on 24 February 2017 and suspect the sinkhole contains at least 4,000 victims . In early June of 2014 residents of nearby villages witnessed ISIS militants bringing four trucks of bound and blindfolded men to the site. The killings may have continued through 2014 and into mid 2015. Currently investigators only have an estimate of the number of people ISIS executed at the site. According to civilians who lived near the site during the occupation, ISIS executed between 1,000 and 25,000. ISIS likely stopped using the site in mid 2015, according to satellite imagery Human Rights Watch (HRW) analysed revealing that the sinkhole was filled at the time. Once Iraqi forces retook the area, the infill of earth had settled. Satellite images taken at the time seemed to show remains in the middle of the pit. 

In December of 2017 Iraqi state elements discovered a grave near Mosul, containing the bodies of 39 foreign workers from India, dating back to sometime after the 18th of June 2014 when ISIS had reportedly kidnapped the men .  At this moment we are unaware of a more exact location beyond proximity to Mosul.  

ISIS activity in Mosul district, concerning mass graves that we are aware of, varies in a wide range of both mass grave size and victims targeted. The sites with the lower number of victims tend to be within the cities or villages (Mosul, Hammam al-Alil) while the sites with the greatest numbers are further out or on the fringes of settlements (Badoush, Al Khafsa). These sites often appear to have sometimes required use of heavy equipment, and evidence of mutilation is consistent across grave sites, suggesting ISIS attempted to streamline the mass burial processes with minimal respect for the dead, consistent with their individual attention to torture, mutilation and disfigurement of corpses. ISIS frequently chooses existing depressions and holes in the earth for their burials, rather than digging new ones if equipment is unavailable, and many mass grave locations appear to have been selected by ISIS due to their natural subterranean features. The identities of many of the victims are unknown but for the sites with data from both witnesses and excavation the victims are predominantly male (Badoush and Hammam al-Alil) and in some cases were killed for their religious affiliations (Shiites in Badoush prison). However being Sunni did not necessarily mean protection from ISIS, Sunni Turkmen were also killed (al-Rashidiya). Mosul is also the only district where a mass grave was reported containing only non-Iraqis.  
 
Sinjar District

Prior to the incursion in Sinjar by ISIS, Yazidis primarily lived in the areas surrounding the Sinjar Mountains .Through August and September of 2014 ISIS committed multiple mass killings in the district of Sinjar, targeting the population of Yazidis . ISIS created and filled at least 30 mass graves in the area, which investigators discovered between 2015 and 2018, following the Iraqi army’s liberation of the area from ISIS. Investigations into the crimes committed in the region by the organization Yazda  have provided a uniquely detailed account from both eyewitnesses and visual material. It is important to note that Yazda are not forensic investigators, but advocate for such investigations in the future . 

Sinjar City 
 
Three separate sites surround the city of Sinjar . After Sinjar was liberated, villagers found a mass grave containing 11 bodies. A Yazidi man who escaped ISIS capture identified the 11 bodies by their personal belongings and identification documents as his family who had not managed to escape. From another account, an eyewitness saw a family of 17 Shiites and one Yazidi man be captured by ISIS while fleeing to Sinjar Mountain and later executed and buried on August 4 2014 . The final site was discovered in February 2018 when it was accidentally exposed by state officials . Approximately three men and women were buried but the events that led to their deaths are unknown. 

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Domiz

The mass grave east of the village of Domiz came to investigators attention through word of mouth . The Sunni neighbour of a Yazidi man informed him that if he were to return to Sinjar, to know that ISIS had killed over 40 Yazidis and left them in this natural well. Four skulls found on the surface and the fact that the well is now shallower than before gives credence to this account. 

Khanasor 
In February of 2015, investigators identified two mass graves near the town of Khanasor . The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) excavated a site to the east of Khanasor on the road to the village of Sinuni. They retrieved the bodies of 68 Yazidis.  The second site is an earthen mound around five metres long and scattered with clothing and some evident bones. There is currently no account regarding the attack that led to the creation of these two sites. 

Hardan 

Around the town of Hardan there are at least five mass graves . Across three of the sites ISIS killed and buried at least 65 men according to a witness from the neighbouring village of Gormiz. The people of Gormiz successfully defended their village from ISIS in August 2014 and watched as ISIS fighters massacred the Yazidis of Hardan at the crossroads. 
 
Hamadan
In the days following the liberation of Hamadan from ISIS the Iraqi forces discovered a grave where ISIS buried at least 21 Yazidis . From the third of August 2014, ISIS rounded up 84 members of an extended family and divided them by gender. They executed the men and took the 63 women and children captive. 
 
Zumani
Investigators have identified three sites around the village of Zumani but not they have not excavated  the graves. Investigators expect the sites will contain dozens of bodies. The graves likely contain Yazidis that ISIS caught and executed on the road while fleeing from Sinjar City to the mountain. The three sites are within 400 meters of each other. Two feature exposed bones and clothing and investigators believe the victims include women, men, and children.  
 
Qine
Of the two sites at Qine, flooding and interference destroyed the first . After heavy rainfall bodies were disturbed and washed downhill where they were then covered with earth. A survivor of a massacre in the town on 3 August 2014, reported that ISIS killed at least 71 whom he was able to identify after the attack although he estimated it was likely to be almost 90 killed overall. The second grave lies 50 meters from the path leading to the mountains, next to a small house. Without witness accounts the number of bodies buried remains unclear. Excavation of the sites began in March 2022  but an official report of the findings has yet to become widely available.
 
Kocho

The village of Kocho was under siege by ISIS fighters from 12 days from the 3 August 2014, during which village leaders attempted to negotiate with the fighters, to let the Yazidis flee to Sinjar mountain without harm . By 15 August, ISIS fighters said they accepted the terms and asked the villages to gather at the school building. Instead of letting them leave to Sinjar Mountain, the men were taken away in trucks, while the women were separated, the older of which were killed and the younger taken into sexual slavery. Investigators estimate 477 people were killed while 656 are still unaccounted for. Five mass graves have been identified by five men who each escaped execution at a different site . The first site contains two adjoining mass graves 800 meters from the local school. The earthen mound has yet to be excavated but the eyewitness reported 45 men were shot and buried at the site; ISIS fighters also videotaped the executions. 

To the east of the village there is a 40m long mound where bones and clothing are visible. An informant who survived the shooting at the site reported that ISIS killed and buried around 50 Yazidi men and children here. The third eyewitness was a part of a group of 14 men that ISIS members moved to a site within the village. The Yazidi man survived the shooting and hid out in a farmhouse where he witnessed IS fighters using bulldozers to bury the victims. The fourth site is located within the village, some clothing and shell casings remain on the surface. A Yazidi man survived the shooting and gave account of the 25 other Yazidi men and boys aged between 13-70 that were killed by ISIS fighters. The final site in Kocho had no survivors, however the Yazidi man who survived and hid out in the farmhouse witnessed executions taking place in that area. However, numbers or identities of the victims are unknown. A UN-supported excavation of the graves in Kocho began in March 2019  from which a total of at least 422 Yazidi men and boys are known to have been executed in the village on 15 August 2014 .

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Solagh
The town of Solagh lies just east of Sinjar City on the main road towards Tel Afar. Kurdish forces found a mass grave at the Solagh Institute following the liberation of Sinjar in November of 2015 . ISIS fighters executed 80 elderly Yazidi women and buried them at this site on 16 August 2014 . They were a part of the 850 women and children that ISIS separated from the men in the village of Kocho. Due to both accounts of witnesses and the excavation that took place in 2020  investigators are more able to corroborate the details of the massacre. 

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Hamey

A Yazidi witness from Hamey village told investigators that local Muslims took three older Yazidi women and three young Yazidi girls to give to ISIS fighters on August 3 2014. The ISIS members forced the women and girls into marriage and raped them until 15 August when they killed them and left them in the well near the village. 

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Siba Sheikh Khidr

ISIS members killed an undetermined number of Yazidi men and boys on 3 August 2014 after ISIS surrounded the village of Siba Sheikh Khidir . Four sites are located within and just outside the village . The site at the crossroads of the village contains seven Yazidi men who died defending the village from ISIS fighters. At an unknown point following burial the site was burned. Eyewitness testimony identified a site in the center of the village where the bodies of 52 Yazidi men, women and children executed by ISIS lay prior to their burial. A site further out of the village near the electricity station was identified by a survivor who saw the killing of six people who were found hiding by ISIS members. The fourth site on the road leaving the village contains the remains of a family who ISIS fighters caught while they were attempting to flee.

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Ger Zarik

On 3 August 2014 ISIS launched an attack on the village of Ger Zarik. Yazidis defended the village from the early morning but eventually succumbed to ISIS fighters, at which point the villagers, Yazidis and Muslim Kurds, attempted to flee .  ISIS members killed or captured those who were running to a Kurdish forces checkpoint, which had been abandoned . Those who remained were either killed or taken captive. Based on eyewitness accounts ISIS killed around 90 people in Ger Zarik but as many as 100 people are buried in the two associated mass graves. One of the sites was identified by the scattered bones and shell casings left behind. The second is a large mound, seemingly created by a bulldozer next to a house that according to a witness was used by ISIS to hold Yazidis before killing them . 

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Jedali

There are no eyewitness accounts for what happened at Jedali village . The three graves are along the road from Jedali, the first of which was discovered by a military captain in October 2017 because of the blood, bones and shell casings. At least 30 pieces of bones, two skulls, clothing and shoes point to a mass grave, however the number buried here is unknown. The second was discovered by a Yazidi man at the crossroads by the village. The remains of at least one man, one woman and five girls were found. Among the remains he found a phone containing photos of a man and woman, a newlywed couple that he knew. The third site, across the road from Jedali village, has been connected to an account of a Yazidi man from Tel Azer. The witness was on the phone with a family member who was preparing to escape from Jedali with the rest of the family when they were captured by ISIS fighters. The witness watched from afar as his family were rounded up by 13 cars of ISIS members, they were then taken and executed at the site. There are an unknown number of men, women and children buried there.  In the district of Sinjar ISIS targeted Yazidi’s in their villages, where most were killed and buried nearby. Men were often split from women and children, the former being executed and the latter taken captive (Hamadan and Kocho). Elderly women however from Kocho were then separated from the rest of the women and executed and buried in Solagh instead. Some of the sites are on crossroads rather than in villages as ISIS captured those fleeing on the roads and buried them there (Hardan, Siba Sheikh and Ger Zarik). Graves vary widely in numbers of victims but most villages have at least 2-3 mass graves, the most at one site being five (Hardan and Kocho)

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Tel Afar District

Tel Afar district is home to a range of ethnic groups including Shi’a and Sunni Turkmen, Kurds, Assyrians and Arabs . ISIS captured the city of Tel Afar on 16 July 2014  and by August had control over the entire district . 

Bardiya 

A witness interviewed by HRW saw 23 men identified as Yazidi shepherds from Sinjar, who had been working in the area, in the back of three pickup trucks on 12 August 2014 . The men driving the trucks were identified as ISIS members by the witness due to their clothing. The bodies were later discovered in a dried ravine near Bardiya. In September 2014 government officials took the bodies away.

Zummar

Information concerning the killings in Zummar is limited but investigators located and excavated two sites . The two sites, one containing 35 bodies, and the other 19 bodies, were exhumed by the KRG in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively. Details about the identities of the deceased are unknown. 

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Qasr al-Mihrab

The village of Qasr al-Mihrab was used as a kind of sorting facility by ISIS. ISIS members transferred Yazidi families from other villages (especially from Sinjar) here and told them to pick a house to live in . ISIS fighters would regularly pick off young girls to be sent to Syria and take young boys for military or religious training. The ISIS members would withhold food and water in periods over months, and many died as a result of starvation as well as poor sanitation . A survivor attested that those who died or were executed in his house, including 17 men, women and children, were buried on a nearby hill. This account is from one family, at one point there may have been 3,300 Yazidis in the village , there are expected to be many more mass graves in the area . 

Bir Alou Antar

The natural well near the city of Tel Afar is believed to contain the greatest number of victims in the district . The well has a diameter of 45 metres and a depth of 85 metres but after use as a disposal site for bodies the depth has decreased to 25 metres. An eyewitness placed ISIS fighters at the site in Spring 2015 after bringing around 1,000 Yazidi men, women and children. ISIS members killed the Yazidis by beheading, shooting and dismembering. Bodies on the surface of the site had clearly been bound and blindfolded. Beginning in May 2024 an excavation of three months recovered 162 bodies and 39 body parts . Authorities sent the remains to Baghdad for medicolegal analysis, further information on whether remains were identified is not yet readily available. 
The sites from the four areas vary greatly in both number and method. From Zummar there is minimal information, only that 44 bodies were exhumed. That it was done by the KRG may suggest the victims were Yazidis or at least Kurdish speaking. Qasr al-Mihrab is a unique site in its usage by ISIS and likely houses many more sites that have yet to be exhumed. Alou Antar is very similar to the site of Al Khafsa in Ninewah governorate (and to a smaller degree the well at Domiz), and shows ISIS’s propensity for using natural formations instead of digging graves themselves. 

Kirkuk Governorate
Starting in 2014, ISIS launched an offensive that resulted in its takeover of the Hawija district and the rural areas surrounding Kirkuk. From 2015 to 2017, Peshmerga fighters and PMF worked together to drive ISIL out of these territories. By October 2017, the ISF successfully liberated Hawija and Daquq . 
According to a report by UNAMI and OHCHR, at least 37 mass grave sites exist in Kirkuk governorate . UNAMI has presented Preliminary findings from three separate case assessments, each focusing on the Kaka’i, Shabak, and Shia Turkmen communities in Ninawa, Salah al-Din, Diyala, and Kirkuk provinces. However, the investigation remains unfinished following the conclusion of UNITAD’s mandate . 

Hawija, the second-largest city in Kirkuk governorate, exemplifies the human cost of ISIL’s occupation. By the time ISIL was driven out of the city, they had killed estimated 7,000 , while locals reported another 5,000  missing .
●    In November 2024, a local security source uncovered a mass grave in a camp southwest of Kirkuk. The source informed Shafaq News Agency that the grave, located in Al-Bagar (البگار) camp within the Al-Hawija district, is part of a series of mass graves tied to massacres carried out by ISIS during its control of the city in 2014 . However, no additional details are available regarding the precise location, or the number and identity of victims.

●    March 14, 2018, pro-government paramilitary troops discovered another mass grave southwest of Kirkuk, near the al-Bakara base in Hawija. The grave contained the remains of six individuals, believed to have been killed by ISIS in October 2016 . 

Thereunder other graves that are unable to be related to a specific date:

●    March 14, 2015, a mass grave containing 16 Turkmen bodies was found 35 kilometers south of Kirkuk. These victims were likely fighters killed by ISIS during their occupation of the area   .

●    October 30, 2017, Iraqi forced uncovered a total of 27 mass graves  Al-Bakarh and Hawija city, estimating at least 400 bodies. This represents the largest mass grave discovery in Kirkuk so far. The graves contained victims dressed in civilian clothing as well as those clad in the jumpsuits ISIL used to execute condemned individuals. General Mortada al-Luwaibi reported that Iraqi military forces located the graves based on witness accounts provided by local residents .

●    December 21, 2018, Iraqi authorities uncovered another mass grave in the Hawija district of Kirkuk contaning the remains of dozens of people. Lieutenant-Colonel Adel Ismail of the Iraqi Federal Police reported the discovery . 

●    In October 2020, another mass grave was discovered in a village in Kirkuk, containing the remains of 50 bodies. The identities of the victims remain unclear.

Salah al‐Din Governorate
In the summer of 2014, ISIL forces seized parts of Salah al-Din governorate. By 2015, this region became one of the first to be reclaimed during an offensive led by Iraqi forces against ISIS. Salah al-Din also saw an early and significant return of IDPs. Following ISIL’s expulsion, widespread human rights violations were committed by the PMF and local non-state actors. The PMF maintained an active presence in the governorate, pursuing various economic and political objectives. Although ISIL’s defeat was officially declared in 2017, the group continued to operate, conducting a low-level insurgency and exploiting security gaps to rebuild. In response, the ISF carried out several major counter-terrorism operations involving various security forces, including the ISF, PMF, and federal police. 
According to a report by UNAMI and OHCHR, there are at least 36 mass grave sites in Kirkuk governorate . Investigators have completed preliminary findings from three separate case assessments, each focusing on the Kaka’i, Shabak, and Shia Turkmen communities in Ninawa, Salah al-Din, Diyala, and Kirkuk provinces. However, the investigation remains unfinished following the conclusion of UNITAD’s mandate . 
The governorate of Salah al-Din, located in central Iraq, includes the city of Tikrit. In 2014, following ISIL’s entry into Tikrit on June 11, the group quickly defeated the remaining security forces, released prisoners, and looted government and civilian buildings. Over the following months, Da’esh/ISIL extended their control over Tikrit, Alam, and surrounding areas. They apprehended, detained, and publicly executed police officers, security personnel, and anyone perceived as opposing their rule, establishing a reign of terror across the region .
Investigators discovered several mass graves across Salah al-Din Governorate:
●    On November 7, 2016, investigators discovered two mass graves near the al-Makhazen area in the Sharqat district. The first contained at least 10 bodies, while the second held between 23 and 40 bodies, primarily women and children. ISIS killed these victims on 1 June 2014.

●    In August 2014, Iraqi Special Forces (ISF) discovered two mass graves in Sulaiman Bek. One contained the remains of six men, believed to be truck drivers abducted by ISIS on June 10. The other grave held the bodies of ISF members captured and killed between June 13 and 20. All of the victims died from gunshot wounds, primarily to the head. 

●    Between June 12 and at least June 14, 2014, ISIS overran the Tikrit Presidential Palaces Complex, where over 1,700 soldiers, cadets, and volunteers—who were attempting to flee from the Tikrit Air Academy—were killed, leading to the discovery of mass graves. A UN report presents further findings on the massacre and outlines the timeline of events:

○    Small groups of men began leaving the base on 10-11 June 2014. Those who left by 10 June likely returned home safely, but many who departed on 11 June either disappeared or perished. On 12 June, the mass exodus from the Tikrit Air Academy began, with more than 2,500 men likely fleeing. Of these, ISIS captured and executed around 1,700at the Presidential Palace Complex.

○    ISIS either buried victims’ bodies in mass graves or threw them into the Tigris River. Many bodies that were thrown into the river floated downstream for several days. The remains of those buried in mass graves revealed that the victims were young men (97% under 35 years old), mostly in civilian clothing. The precise locations of each of the graves are listed below .