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Iraq exhumes 470 bodies from Tikrit mass graves: minister

Xinhua, May 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iraq has exhumed the remains of some 470 bodies believed to be soldiers executed by Islamic State (IS) militants near the city of Tikrit in 2014, authorities said on Thursday.

"We have exhumed the bodies of 470 martyred from four major mass graves in Tikrit," Health Minister Adila Hammoud told a press conference in Baghdad.

The victims were believed to be among 1,700 soldiers who walked out of an airbase, known as Camp Speicher, north of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin province, but were abducted and then killed last June by IS militants and some Sunni tribesmen, who captured a large part of the country's northern and western territories, including the northern part of Salahudin province.

After Iraqi security forces recaptured Tikrit from IS militants early April, authorities, including forensic teams, worked at several mass graves sites and unearthed hundreds of bodies, many in military uniforms or with military identity cards. Endit