Khthon documents mass graves, atrocity crimes, and forensic evidence from conflict zones worldwide. Our work is strictly humanitarian and apolitical.
This site may contain imagery and descriptions of deceased individuals, violent injuries, and human remains gathered in the course of active investigations. Content is presented for accountability and documentation purposes only.
Khthon documents mass graves, atrocity crimes, and forensic evidence from conflict zones worldwide. Our work is strictly humanitarian and apolitical.
This site may contain imagery and descriptions of deceased individuals, violent injuries, and human remains gathered in the course of active investigations.
Khthon · Active Investigation
Iraq contains layered grave systems spanning three distinct eras — the Ba'athist Anfal genocide against the Kurds, the 1991 Shia uprising suppression, and the ISIS campaign of 2014–2017. Together they make Iraq one of the largest repositories of mass graves in the Middle East, and one of the most complex geospatial documentation challenges in our coverage.
Situation Overview
Under Saddam Hussein, campaigns such as the Anfal genocide against the Kurds (1987–1988) left tens of thousands executed and buried in machine-dug pits across northern Iraq and southern deserts. After the 1991 uprisings, security forces created new mass graves to bury Shia civilians killed in suppression campaigns, especially around Najaf and Basra.
More recently, the rise of ISIS (2014–2017) introduced another wave of atrocities — including the execution of Yazidis in Sinjar and detainees in Mosul — with victims left in mass pits, sinkholes, or construction sites. These layers make Iraq one of the largest repositories of mass graves in the Middle East.
International coalitions have been deeply engaged in documentation. UNAMI, Human Rights Watch, and local forensic units — often with US and European support — have exhumed sites for both humanitarian and evidentiary purposes. The UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL (UNITAD) has focused on identifying ISIS sites and building legal cases.
GEOINT Methodology
For Khthon, Iraq illustrates a complex geospatial problem: graves span deserts, agricultural fields, and urban peripheries, often accessible by road and dug with heavy machinery.
1987–1991 · Ba'ath Era
The Anfal campaign systematically depopulated Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. Captured civilians were transported south in convoys and executed at desert sites in Muthanna and Anbar governorates. Ba'athist graves are characterised by large linear pits, machine-dug in remote desert, sometimes containing hundreds of individuals. Vehicle track access from military roads is consistent and detectable.
1991 · Shia Uprising
After the failure of the 1991 uprising, Republican Guard units suppressed Shia communities across the south. Mass executions at mosques, civic buildings, and open grounds produced graves near Najaf, Karbala, and Basra. These sites are typically peri-urban — closer to populated areas than the Anfal desert pits — and often located within or adjacent to existing cemeteries, making them harder to distinguish without ground access.
2014–2017 · ISIS Era
ISIS executions in Sinjar targeted Yazidis systematically, with bodies disposed of in pre-existing sinkholes, quarry pits, and hastily dug trenches at settlement edges. The Camp Speicher massacre (2014) near Tikrit left over 1,700 bodies in ravines. ISIS-era graves show opportunistic site selection — sinkholes, agricultural berms, construction sites — with irregular geometry and access via civilian roads, making them harder to detect than Ba'athist military pits.
Multi-Era GEOINT Framework
01 · SATINT
Surface Anomaly Detection
Ba'athist-era desert pits persist as surface anomalies decades after burial — soil compaction, vegetation changes, and subtle topographic depressions are detectable via multi-spectral imagery. Time-series comparison helps distinguish natural features from deliberate earthworks, particularly in the flat alluvial terrain of southern Iraq.
02 · HUMINT / SOCMINT
Testimony Integration
Survivor testimony from Anfal survivors, 1991 uprising families, and Yazidi communities provides the coordinate data that makes satellite searches tractable. UNITAD's legal investigation has produced the most systematic testimony collection; Khthon integrates these records with our spatial analysis to anchor searches.
03 · COMPARATIVE
Cross-Era Pattern Library
Iraq's three-era burial system provides a comparative dataset that Khthon applies globally — Ba'athist trench signatures inform our analysis of state military graves in Syria and Sudan; ISIS sinkhole disposal patterns help identify similar opportunistic sites in Nigeria and Libya. Iraq is Khthon's core reference archive for mass burial typology.
1986–1988
Anfal genocide — chemical weapons and desert executions
The Ba'athist regime launches eight military offensives against Kurdish areas under Operation Anfal, commanded by Ali Hassan al-Majid ("Chemical Ali"). Chemical weapons are deployed against civilians in Halabja (March 1988), killing an estimated 3,200–5,000 people. Captured Kurds — predominantly men and boys — are transported to mass execution sites in the southern desert. An estimated 50,000–182,000 people are killed; bodies are buried in large machine-dug pits in Muthanna, Anbar, and Samawa districts. These desert graves persist as surface anomalies detectable by satellite decades later.
MAR 1991
Shia uprising suppressed — peri-urban graves around Najaf and Basra
Following the Gulf War, Shia communities in the south rise against the Ba'athist regime. The Republican Guard suppresses the uprising with exceptional violence, killing an estimated 60,000–100,000 civilians. Mass executions at mosques, civic buildings, and open lots produce graves in and around Najaf, Karbala, Hillah, and Basra. Unlike the Anfal desert pits, these graves are peri-urban — often adjacent to existing cemeteries or inside town perimeters — requiring ground access and survivor testimony to distinguish from natural burials.
2003–2004
US invasion — initial grave discovery and excavation
The US-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein. Mass grave sites become accessible for the first time, and international forensic teams begin preliminary excavations. UNAMI and Human Rights Watch document hundreds of suspected sites. Early excavations at al-Mahawil near Hillah uncover an estimated 3,000 bodies from the 1991 uprising. The scale of discoveries prompts calls for a systematic national documentation program, though political instability and ongoing violence prevent comprehensive investigation.
JUN–AUG 2014
ISIS captures Mosul — Camp Speicher massacre
ISIS captures Mosul in June 2014, triggering mass displacement and atrocities. At Camp Speicher near Tikrit, ISIS executes an estimated 1,700 Iraqi Air Force cadets — the largest single massacre of the ISIS campaign. Bodies are pushed into ravines and shallow pits on the camp grounds. Satellite imagery captures the event's aftermath. The massacre prompts the formation of UNITAD, the UN's legal accountability mechanism for ISIS crimes, which subsequently uses satellite evidence as a central component of its case-building.
AUG 2014
Sinjar — Yazidi genocide begins
ISIS attacks Sinjar district, capturing thousands of Yazidis. Men and older women are systematically executed; younger women and girls are enslaved. Execution sites include sinkholes, open pits on hillsides, and hastily dug trenches near village perimeters. UNITAD subsequently documents over 80 mass grave sites in the Sinjar area alone. The Yazidi genocide prompts one of the most intensive forensic investigation efforts in the Middle East, combining survivor testimony, satellite imagery, and archaeological excavation.
2017
ISIS defeat — grave recovery operations begin
Iraqi and Kurdish forces retake Mosul, Sinjar, and the Euphrates Valley. Mass grave recovery operations begin under UNITAD, UNAMI, and local forensic teams. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances of Persons (CIEDP) begins systematic documentation. Satellite imagery is used to prioritise excavation targets. As of 2023, UNITAD has identified over 200 ISIS-era mass grave sites across Iraq. Many Ba'athist and 1991-era sites remain unexcavated due to resource constraints and political complexity.
Ongoing
Khthon monitoring — three-era comparative analysis
Khthon integrates UNITAD case data with satellite baseline analysis to maintain a continuously updated spatial record of Iraq's mass grave landscape across all three eras. Ba'athist desert pit signatures inform our global library of state military burial patterns; ISIS sinkhole and opportunistic disposal signatures are cross-referenced with similar patterns in Syria, Libya, and Nigeria. Iraq functions as Khthon's primary comparative archive — a system where three distinct actor types have left three distinct but legible marks on the same landscape.
Browse Khthon's full catalogue of country and case reports across seven global regions, or get involved with our ongoing investigations.
