MASS GRAVE DISCOVER IN TIKRIT IRAG.
Tikrit, Iraq (CNN)Mass graves believed to hold Iraqi soldiers have been discovered in newly liberated Tikrit.
Up to 1,700 bodies may be recovered. ISIS claimed to have executed that many soldiers captured in June outside Camp Speicher, a fortified Iraqi base near Tikrit.
CNN's Arwa Damon saw nine bodies recovered by forensics experts at one of the excavation sites. Grieving Iraqis, apparently not related to the soldiers, gathered to pray over the bodies. When the first three bodies were found, 10 Iraqi soldiers saluted the dead by firing seven shots into the air. The national anthem was played while soldiers wept.
All the bodies were decomposed. Some had their hands bound, Damon said. The remains will be sent back to Baghdad for DNA tests to establish identify, said Ali Tahir, a director in the Iraqi morgue who was supervising the digging and extraction.
Damon said there may be eight mass graves inside the presidential palace complex, which contains the residences of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and two other sites outside the city.
Up to 1,700 bodies may be recovered. ISIS claimed to have executed that many soldiers captured in June outside Camp Speicher, a fortified Iraqi base near Tikrit.
CNN's Arwa Damon saw nine bodies recovered by forensics experts at one of the excavation sites. Grieving Iraqis, apparently not related to the soldiers, gathered to pray over the bodies. When the first three bodies were found, 10 Iraqi soldiers saluted the dead by firing seven shots into the air. The national anthem was played while soldiers wept.
All the bodies were decomposed. Some had their hands bound, Damon said. The remains will be sent back to Baghdad for DNA tests to establish identify, said Ali Tahir, a director in the Iraqi morgue who was supervising the digging and extraction.
Damon said there may be eight mass graves inside the presidential palace complex, which contains the residences of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and two other sites outside the city.
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