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HARDAN, Iraq (AP) — There are mass graves throughout Iraq and Syria that contain the bodies of victims of the Islamic State group.
Through interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 mass graves, 17 of them being in Syria.
In one grave alone there are the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe, all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region.
Officials can't guess the number of dead in the 16 other graves, which are located in territory too dangerous to excavate. But based on the memories of traumatized survivors, there could be up to 5,200 people buried.
IS has made no attempt to hide its atrocities, and in fact, has boasted about them. But officials fear that what the United Nations has described as an ongoing genocide will be hard to prosecute as the graves deteriorate.
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130-a-10-(Stephen Wood, CEO, Allsource Analysis, in AP interview on July 12, 2016)-"managed to survive"-Stephen Wood of Allsource Analysis recounts stories of survivors who say Islamic State group fighters lined up prisoners in a long line by the mass graves. (30 Aug 2016)
<<CUT *130 (08/30/16)££ 00:10 "managed to survive"
129-a-12-(Stephen Wood, CEO, Allsource Analysis, in AP interview on July 12, 2016)-"back toward Mosul"-Stephen Wood of Allsource Analysis has examined an image from July 17, 2014, that appears to show the location of mass graves Islamic State group fighters scattered across Iraq and Syria. (30 Aug 2016)
<<CUT *129 (08/30/16)££ 00:12 "back towards Mosul"
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