Iraqi authorities have commenced excavation work on a large mass grave near Mosul, believed to contain over 4,000 victims of the Islamic State (IS) group, including Yazidis and soldiers. The site, known as the Khasfa mass grave, is considered one of the largest left by IS in Iraq and is linked to one of the group’s worst massacres during its rampage across the country a decade ago. While precise figures for the number of victims remain uncertain, a 2018 United Nations report identified Khasfa as likely Iraq’s largest IS mass grave. Iraqi officials have indicated that the full exhumation will require international support. Human Rights Watch estimates that approximately 400,000 people are buried in mass graves across Iraq, highlighting the extensive scale of atrocities committed by IS. This excavation effort is part of ongoing attempts to address the legacy of IS violence in the region.