Raqqa's mass graves — digging in the dirt

Local authorities affiliated with the Raqqa Civil Council are struggling to cope with the logistical challenges of recovering bodies and providing information to families looking for their missing or dead relatives. What used to be the grounds of the city's zoo is now in fact one of several sites of mass graves in Raqqa.

Mohammed Assad, the on-site autopsy doctor, said that due to the intense fighting victims' families and "Islamic State" (IS) fighters buried people in the quickest and simplest way possible, digging shallow graves and wrapping bodies in blankets.

The digging stops and a dusty blanket is pulled out from the ground. Three corpses are wrapped together inside. "In this grave we have three children wrapped together; the first one is about 2-months old, the second is 2-years old, and the third is 3-years old," Dr. Assad told DW.

The local team members are volunteers who do not have forensic expertise. The on-site identification procedure of bodies includes the exhumation date, identification number, gender and general state of the body.

Dr. Assad said the people here died of conflict-related injuries; those crushed by rubble, killed by shrapnel, IS sniper fire or coalition airstrikes. But he also remembers one unusual case. "There was what appeared to be an execution, where the head was placed separately from the body."

Mohammed Saleh, a Raqqa local, has come to search for the body of his dead brother. He leads Dr. Assad's team to where his brother’s body is supposedly buried. The team digs and finds a blanket. Mohammed points out to a recovered body; he believes it’s his brother.

Mohammed Saleh asks for a razor to cut the trousers from the recovered body. He says his brother had a metal plate in the fibula. The team examines the leg but no metal plate is found.

Mohammed Saleh shares his thoughts before walking away to have some time for himself. "Without Daesh's [the Arabic name for IS — the ed.] presence in this place the international coalition airstrikes would have not taken place. Fate led to my brother's death," he told DW.

Dr. Assad says the group has received little or no support from international non-governmental organizations. With Raqqa currently under US-led coalition control, NGOs are keeping a low profile to avoid stoking tensions between the Syrian government and Turkey.

Dr. Assad's team takes a tea break. One of the team's members, Ibrahim Assad, has been digging for the past three months. He says he’s come here to help to bring some humanity to these bodies and to give the families the opportunity to provide their loved ones with a proper burial.

According Dr. Assad's estimates there are about 150 bodies here. There were instances where three to four blankets were found in a trench on top of each other. At a second site, a football pitch, the team expects to find some further 200 bodies, while a third site is estimated to have around 500.