The relics of 500 prisoners executed by Islamic State militants in 2014 were found Friday in Mosul, Iraqi military media reported. The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said two mass graves containing 500 corpses of Badush Prison inmates were found, with one grave containing 30 relics and the other 470.
According to HRW, in June 2014, Islamic State members attacked Badush prison and killed more than 670 Shia prisoners after separating out Sunni prisoners. Islamic State also reportedly held hundreds of kidnapped women from Iraq’s Yazidi minority at the prison. Iraqi forces took over Badush prison in March as part of a campaign to drive IS militants out of Mosul, which ended successfully early July.
Since they emerged in 2014 to proclaim a “caliphate” rule from Mosul, Islamic State militants executed hundreds of Iraqis for multiple reasons ranging from collaboration with security forces, to fleeing the group’s holdouts, to violating the group’s extreme religious code. Iraqi government and paramilitary forces have regularly run into mass graves of mass graves
On the other hand, Iraqi government troops and allied paramilitary forces managed Friday to retake more areas in Tal Afar as operations proceed to regain control of Islamic State militants’ last enclave in Nineveh, with the total of recaptured areas standing at 12.
Lt. Gen Abdul-Amir Yarallah, head of the Joint Operations Command’s field task, said forces recaptured 12 out of 28 neighborhoods of Tal Afar. He said Federal Police and Popular Mobilization Forces took over the Tal Afar electricity storage facility besides al-Taleea and al-Nasr neighborhoods.
Yarallah added that forces also took control of al-Nedaa, Khadraa and Muhalabiya regions, and became on the outskirts of al-Qalaa district. They also recaptured a so-called “Kheder Elias” shrine. Federal Police chief Shaker Jawdat said his forces retook Saad district, northwest of Tal Afar, and prepared to invade al-Qadisiya, another neighborhood.
 The government declared the launch of Tal Afar operations last Sunday. Iraqi military commanders have reported daily advances and retaking of IS-held territory since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the launch of offensives on Sunday.
Past operations by the Popular Mobilization Forces, the paramilitary troops backing government forces, had managed, until the end of June, to isolate Tal Afar from the Syrian borders and from the rest of Nineveh.  The United Nations says more than 30.000 were displaced as operations launched for the enclave.
On the humanitarian side, Nearly 500 families have fled Nineveh’s western town of Tal Afar to Syria as Iraqi forces continue advances against Islamic State militants in their last bastion in the province. Nashwan Ibrahim, a senior brigade commander at Kurdish Peshmerga forces, said in a press statement that nearly 500 families fled the enclave into Syria, with 190 of those arrested over suspected affiliation with Islamic State.
Earlier on Friday, a military source told Kurdish-owned Rudaw network that 6000 civilians had been evacuated from eastern and western Tal Afar in 48 hours. Earlier this week, the United Nations said 40.000 civilians fled the town as operations launched against IS militants, adding that 30.000 were believed to remain stranded inside.
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, described the situation inside Tal Afar as “very tough,” pointing to food and water shortages and lack the basic necessities.Up to 20.000 Iraqi refugees are believed to reside in refugee camps in Syria.
Iraqi military commanders have reported daily advances and retaking of IS-held territory since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the launch of offensives on Sunday. Past operations by the Popular Mobilization Forces, the paramilitary troops backing government forces, had managed, until the end of June, to isolate Tal Afar from the Syrian borders and from the rest of Nineveh.