Over 1,000 Iraqi soldier bodies believed to be inside mass graves

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 and pay their respects as the grisly excavation work proceeded.

Damon said there may be 10 mass graves inside the presidential palace complex, which contains the residences of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The complex became ISIS headquarters after the militants occupied the city. Iraqi soldiers and Shiite militias retook Tikrit a few days ago after a fierce battle.

Damon interviewed a soldier who said he survived the massacre by playing dead. The solider said ISIS captured the troops outside Camp Speicher and marched them to the presidential palace complex, telling them they would be safe until a prisoner swap was arranged.

Once inside the compound, the soldiers were separated into smaller groups, executed and buried in mass graves, the survivor told Damon. He said he was tossed into a river and floated to an embankment.

It’s unclear how the Iraqi soldiers ended up in the hands of ISIS.

As ISIS swept through northern Iraq in June, some military units were ordered to Camp Speicher.

Their families claim the men received orders from their commanders to leave the base and move closer to Baghdad. They left unarmed and in civilian clothes, they say.

Military commanders and the Iraqi Defense Ministry denied any such orders being issued and said the men deserted.

ISIS released videos that showed what seemed to be an endless line of military recruits marched at gunpoint and later posted images showing cold-blooded mass killings.

Damon said Iraqi officials told her it may take weeks or months to exhume all the bodies.

Human Rights Watch described the “Speicher Massacre” — as it has been dubbed in Iraq — as the “largest reported incident” where “ISIS captured more than 1,000 soldiers fleeing Camp Speicher … then summarily executed at least 800 of them.”

Based on satellite imagery and witness testimony, Human Rights Watch last year was able to identity a number of mass grave sites inside Tikrit and the presidential palace complex.

Families of the missing soldiers had been seeking answers from the Iraqi government about what happened. The families gave DNA samples to the Iraqi Ministry of Health last year so authorities would be able to match them to unidentified bodies the government may find.