Booby-Trapped Grave of 120 Yazidi Victims of ISIL Discovered in Iraq

A local Iraqi Kurdistan official confirmed on Saturday that the burial contains as estimated 123 bodies, AFP reported. The area around the mass grave was crammed with explosive devices.

As the grave, located 10 km (6 miles) from Sinjar, had been-booby trapped, no excavation has yet been performed, and the number of victims is based on accounts of people who survived the execution.

According to UN estimates, at least 5,000 children, women and men have been killed by ISIL militants since a summer 2014 offensive, when ISIL captured the region, systematically enslaving, raping and killing thousands of local residents.

Yazidis practice an ancient syncretic religion linked to Zoroastrianism, which Islamists regard a heresy.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council announced that the Peshmerga militia and allied Kurdish troops reclaimed Sinjar November 13th, which was held by the Islamic State for more than a year.