- In 2016, 1,300 Sunni men and boys were abducted by Iraqi forces and ISF-linked militants while fleeing fighting near Fallujah, with many allegedly tortured or killed and hundreds still missing.
- Recent mass-grave discoveries near Saqlawiyah have renewed demands for independent forensic investigations, amid accusations that Iraqi authorities have failed to reveal the truth and may be suppressing evidence implicating state-linked paramilitary groups.
In June 2016, Amnesty International reported 1,300 Sunni men and boys were abducted by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and ISF-linked militants during their attempt to escape the raging conflict between ISIL and the US-led coalition in Fallujah. Witnesses later stated these individuals were intercepted by fighters from the Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades).
The Third battle of Fallujah saw fierce fighting that stretched for months, as hundreds of ISIL fighters wrestled to keep control of their second most important stronghold in Iraq after Mosul. Over 30,000 personnel, composed of ISF, Shiite PMF, and Local Tribal Militias participated. Ground forces met intense resistance as they fought to break into the city center, though ISIL’s presence eventually withered under heavy US-led aerial bombardment and pressure.
Civilian casualties remained a key point of concern, with civilian lives at risk to indiscriminate shelling, and reprisal attacks. Aws al-Khafaji, leader of the Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Forces infamously called for the cleansing of Iraq from the Sunnis of Fallujah. Raafat al-Zarari, head of the Ninevah Media Centre, told ARA News that civilians were being killed “for being Sunni Muslims”.
The 1,300 abducted men and boys formed the most notable example of systematic sectarian targeting. The victims were taken away to multiple sites, many of which are unknown.
One reported site was a derelict warehouse on the outskirts of Saqlawiyah, where male hostages were allegedly subjected to repeated torture. Eyewitness accounts repeatedly also made mention of ‘Tareq Camp’, known as al-Mazraa, noting it was the location of several massacres. Days following the abduction, the dead bodies of around 300 civilians who were abducted were found in the al-Nourain school yard in the town of Saqlawiyah. The fate of the hundreds of others abducted remains unknown.
In 2019, a mass grave containing the bodies of more than 600 civilians was discovered in Iraq, near Fallujah, in an area that ISIL never reached but was controlled by the PMF.
Whilst the government never revealed the circumstances and details of the crime, it is believed that the grave is of those abducted in 2016.
Earlier in May 2026, authorities recovered remains from three mass graves in Anbar, close to Saqlawiyah.
The latest discovery has renewed calls from victims’ families, activists, and human rights groups for an independent forensic investigation into the fate of those forcibly disappeared in Saqlawiyah in 2016.
They have also urged Iraqi authorities to publicly release all forensic findings, investigative conclusions, and information relating to the identity of the victims and those responsible.
Iraqi officials have reportedly suggested the graves may date to an earlier historical period, but local activists and civil figures have disputed that claim. The Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) strongly objected to this, criticising what it described as the Iraqi state’s premature and irresponsible attribution of the graves to a specific historical era before any forensic testing, DNA analysis, or formal identification procedures had been completed.
There remains a troubling pattern of official opacity surrounding mass graves linked to militia violence and enforced disappearances. Iran-backed militants have long been accused of acting with impunity, as authorities not only merely fail to transparently investigate these crimes but may deliberately suppress evidence that could implicate armed groups.
