Sema
On the morning of Sunday, August 17, 2025, specialized committees began field operations to open the Khasfa mass grave, located south of Mosul. This pit was used by ISIS as a mass burial site for the bodies of its victims executed during the group’s control of the city starting in 2014 and lasting for three years.
The local government stated in a press release that field teams had discovered the remains of a number of victims who were found blindfolded.
The pit is locally known as al-Khafsa, a deep geological sinkhole located about 20 kilometers south of Mosul. It is considered one of the most prominent mass graves used by ISIS to conceal the bodies of its victims between June 2014 and July 2017.
The operation is part of efforts to recover the remains and conduct DNA testing to identify the victims, contributing to the documentation of the crimes and ending the uncertainty experienced by the families of the missing. These procedures are expected to take years due to their complexity.