Iraq exhumes bodies of ISIS fighters from mass graves

The remains of 85 extremists and their relatives unearthed in Mosul

A mass grave for ISIS victims in Mosul, Iraq. AP

The remains of 85 ISIS fighters and their relatives have been exhumed from a mass grave in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

In 2014, ISIS had seized large parts of Iraq and Syria, killing thousands of people after declaring a caliphate in those areas.

Iraqi authorities said they had found the remains of 35 people killed between 2016 and 2017 on Saturday and 50 others on Sunday.

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  Iraqi government forces and allied militias take a position in the northern part of Diyala province as part of an assault to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS, on March 2, 2015. All photos: AFP

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  Members of the Iraqi paramilitary Popular Mobilisation units flash the 'V' for victory sign after regaining control of the village of Albu Ajil, near Tikrit, on March 9, 2015.

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  Fighters from a Popular Mobilisation unit take part in an exercise during their graduation ceremony in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, on April 9, 2015.

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  Iraqi fighters of the Shiite group Asaib Ahl Al Haq (The League of the Righteous) stand guard outside their headquarters on May 18, 2015, in the mainly Shiite southern city of Basra, as Shiite militias converged on Ramadi in a bid to recapture it from ISIS.

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  Iraqi government forces and members of the Popular Mobilisation units raise their weapons on the front line during battles with ISIS on the road leading to Saqlawiya, in Iraq's Anbar province, on August 4, 2015.

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  An Iraqi Shiite fighter cleans his weapon on his vehicle at the petrochemical plant in the town of Baiji, north of Tikrit, on October 16, 2015.

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  Iraqi Shiite fighters fire a rocket during a military operation against ISIS as they advance towards the centre of Baiji, about 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, on October 19, 2015.

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  Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitaries advance in a desert area near the village of Tall Abtah, south-west of Mosul, on November 28, 2016, during a broad offensive by Iraq forces to retake Mosul from ISIS.

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  An Iraqi Shiite fighter from the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary forces inspects an underground tunnel in the town of Tal Abtah, south of Tal Afar, on December 10, 2016.

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  Iraqi pro-government forces advance towards the Unesco-listed ancient city of Hatra, south-west of Mosul, during an offensive to retake the area from ISIS fighters, on April 26, 2017.

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  A fighter from the Hashed Al Sahaabi units helps displaced people who fled from battles to oust ISIS from Hawija cross a river in the area of Zarga, about 35km south-east of Kirkuk, on October 4, 2017.

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  Iraqi forces advance towards the city of al-Qaim, in Iraq's western Anbar province near the Syrian border, as they fight against remnant pockets of ISIS forces, on November 3, 2017.

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  Iraqi forces ride in the back of pick-up trucks during the advance through Anbar province in the western desert bordering Syria, on November 25, 2017, to flush out remaining ISIS fighters in the region.

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  Members of the Iraqi forces and the Hashed Al Shaabi carry their firearms as they stand on an infanty-fighting vehicle near the Iraqi-Syrian border, about 80km west of the border town of al-Qaim, on December 9, 2017.

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  Abbas Hamza Hassan, a 56-year-old Iraqi fighter, is pictured on November 13, 2018 while training fellow Hashed members how to use weapons in the western Iraqi province of Anbar.

"Work is ongoing," said Hassan Wathiq Al Anzi, the head of forensics in Nineveh province, northern Iraq.

Workers unearthed bones and skulls, placing them in black bags for transportation to the forensic department, an AFP report said.

It is the first announcement of a mass grave of ISIS fighters killed during the 2016-2017 battle to recapture Mosul, the extremist group's former stronghold.

Mr Al Anzi was unable to provide either an estimate of the total number of bodies at the site or the precise circumstances of their deaths.

Iraq declared victory over ISIS in late 2017 after reclaiming the northern and the western regions seized by the extremist group in 2014.

But remnants of the group have been carrying out a low-level insurgency, particularly in the north, that is disrupting efforts to restore stability to Iraq after years of warfare and sectarian unrest.

The UN said the group left behind more than 200 mass graves that could contain as many as 12,000 bodies.

The burial site was behind a mosque in a residential area in the Al Rifai district and DNA samples will be taken to identify the bodies, Mr Al Anzi said.

Nineveh's civil defence said that while digging began on Saturday, the authorities had previously been aware of the site's location.

Iraq continues to discover mass graves not only from the ISIS period but also from the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein, who was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2003.