In a mass grave left by ISIS in the north of the country, a Kurdish Bashmarka force found the remains of at least 11 Iraqi police officers, believed to have been arrested and killed by the organization in 2018.

"The cemetery was found in the Doraji area close to a raid (a disputed area between the territory and the federal government)," said the associate commander of the Karmian axis, located south - east of the Khal district of Salahuddin Governorate, Major General Mohamed Rustam.

"We have been working since 11.00 on Thursday morning. The remains of at least 11 Iraqi policemen have been exhumed from the cemetery so far, believed to have been arrested by the organization in 2018. "

He explained that "the search for other bodies continues," in coordination between the Iraqi Federal Police and the Bashmerga forces, emphasizing that "an engineering and medical team of the Iraqi Federal Police is in place."

The same source said that the cemetery was found on the basis of "our intelligence on the presence in the area of hideouts of the terrorist organization who were imprisoned by Iraqi forces."

This continues as a sweep, "launched early in the week," by the Iraqi army and Bashmerga forces, continues in large areas north of Diyala province and areas in the eastern city of Tuzkhurmatu, Salahuddin province, which are considered buffer zones between Kurdish Peshmerga and Federal Government forces.

ISIS, which controlled vast areas of Iraq between 2014 and 2017, left more than 200 mass graves, according to the United Nations, with more than 12,000 bodies in Iraq and 5,000 in northern Syria.