Peregraf
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has condemned the atrocities of Saddam Hussein's Ba’ath regime following the recent discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of Kurdish Anfal victims in southern Iraq's Muthanna province.
In a post on X, PM al-Sudani stated, “Although many years have passed since the fall of the Ba’ath regime and its tyranny over the Iraqi people, new evidence of its heinous crimes continues to surface, bearing witness to the horrific atrocities our nation endured under dictatorship. The recent discovery of a mass grave in Al-Samawah desert, containing the remains of innocent civilians—women and children from our Kurdish community—revives painful memories of the bloodshed, suffering, struggle, and enforced disappearances inflicted upon our people by the brutal, racist regime. Glory, honor, and mercy to Iraq’s martyrs—the martyrs of injustice and the victims of the hateful dictatorship’s atrocities.”
The grave, unearthed in the Tel Sheikh area of Salman district, approximately 130 kilometers from the provincial center, contained the skeletons of about 150 Kurdish women and children. Excavators discovered bullet wounds on the victims’ skulls, consistent with execution-style killings.
Iraq’s First Lady, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad, who oversaw the excavation, described the scene with deep emotion. “What we saw is beyond description. We saw women hugging their children. They are wearing spring clothes and have bullet wounds on their heads. What pain they must have suffered,” she said tearfully.
The First Lady announced that DNA samples would be collected from the remains to identify their relatives, a long-standing demand of the families of Anfal victims. This initiative follows previous efforts, including the return and reburial of 172 victims’ remains to the Kurdistan Region in February 2024 after their discovery in 2019.
The exhumation and identification of Anfal victims are governed by the Law on Mass Graves Affairs No. 5 of 2006. Despite decades of efforts, only about 2,500 bodies have been exhumed and returned to the Kurdistan Region, while the estimated number of victims from the Anfal and Barzani genocides exceeds hundreds of thousands.
The Anfal campaign, conducted over seven months in 1988, systematically killed over 182,000 Kurds, destroyed thousands of villages, and inflicted irreparable damage across eight regions in the Kurdistan Region. The third phase of the campaign, focused on the Garmian region, remains one of its most brutal chapters.
The discovery of this grave underscores the ongoing need for justice, accountability, and efforts to honor the memory of the victims.