Human Rights Watch claims it has identified the site of a mass execution by the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham, following its capture of Tikrit more than two weeks ago.

Posting photographs, ISIS claimed days later that it had killed 1,700 Shia prisoners, most of them Iraqi troops who had laid down arms as the insurgents moved into the city.

On June 22, Iraq’s Human Rights Minister Mohamed Shia Sudani said at a news conference that 175 air force recruits had executed. He said some bodies were thrown into the Tigris River and others were buried in a mass grave.

Human Rights Watch concludes from analysis of photographs and satellite imagery that ISIS killed between 160 and 190 men in at least two locations between June 11 and 14. It adds, “The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation.”

ISIS EXECUTION SITE TIKRIT

Human Rights Watch says that two trenches in the ISIS photographs are in a field near Tikrit’s Water Palace, a former palace of Saddam Hussein next to the Tigris River. The location of the third trench could not be established.

Satellite images offered indications of recent vehicle activity and surface movement of earth consistent with the two shallow trenches.