Campaign to Identify Mass Grave Victims Ends in Four Stages

News 11:12 AM - 2024-12-08

Blood sample for DNA testing and Kurdistan flag.

Four stages were completed to identify mass grave victims, where blood samples were taken from 1,600 relatives of Anfal victims.

"While the precise number of Anfal victims remains unknown, approximately 1,600 blood samples have been collected, which is a drop in the ocean," Pari Nuri Aziz, an advisor to the Iraqi presidency, told PUKMEDIA.

concluded in four phases; however, as we persist in this endeavour, the project will extend and is scheduled to continue next year," Aziz remarked.

Last Sunday, December 1, 2024, a campaign to gather data and blood samples from Anfal victims began in the Koya district, Erbil Governorate, led by the specialised national team from the Forensic Medicine Department in Baghdad and the Martyrs Foundation - Department of Affairs and Protection of Mass Graves, in collaboration with the Office of the Iraqi First Lady and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to identify the martyrs found in mass graves.

Iraq's fallen Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath dictatorial regime launched the Anfal campaign in February 1988, targeting Kurdish civilians and lasting until September of that year. It is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous cases of state-sponsored mass murder during Iraq's Ba'ath regime. 

The military and regular forces, including the First Corps in Kirkuk and the Fifth Corps in Erbil, as well as the Air Force, Special Forces, Republican Guard, Commando Forces, security and intelligence services, military intelligence, and chemical and biological weapons departments, were all mobilized to carry out these operations. The Anfal atrocities killed over 182,000 Kurdish civilians, including women, children, and the elderly.

According to statistics, 270 mass graves have been discovered since Iraq's liberation, with many more still to be found. The majority of these graves are concentrated in the area between Diwaniyah, Samawah, and Najaf provinces.  

PUKMEDIA