Iraqi forces find mass grave outside Mosul

As they made their way to Mosul, Kurdish peshmerga exchanged heavy fire on Monday with Islamic State fighters in the town of Bashiqa, while Iraqi forces discovered a mass grave in Hamam al-Alil, filled with the skeletal remains of 100 or so decapitated bodies.

The peshmerga have been surrounding Bashiqa, east of Mosul, for weeks, and began their offensive at dawn. Most of Bashiqa is empty of civilians, and only dozens of ISIS fighters are believed to be there. "We have the coordinates of their bases and tunnels, and we are targeting them from here in order to weaken them so that our forces can reach their targets more easily," Iraqi Kurdish commander Brig. Gen. Iskander Khalil Gardi told The Guardian.

Hamam al-Alil is south of Mosul, and the remains, found inside a pit, will be investigated by a forensics team on Tuesday. There are some troops in a small portion of Mosul, and they are encountering suicide bombers and booby traps as they enter heavily populated areas with narrow streets. ISIS took control of Mosul in 2014, and it is their last stronghold in Iraq.

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