Iraqi authorities work to identify bodies in mass graves

As Iraq works to identify bodies found in the many mass graves spread across the country, its people are reminded of the successive bloody battles Iraq has gone through and continues to fight.
Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, January 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. Picture taken January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY CONFLICT) - RTR4LR1N
Men excavate remains from a mass grave on the outskirts of Saadia in Diyala province, Jan. 15, 2015. The mass grave contained the remains of more than 25 men who were killed by Islamic State fighters, a hospital official said. - REUTERS
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Wassim Bassem
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BABIL, Iraq — As the body count continues to rise in Iraq's battle against the Islamic State (IS), it appears Iraqi authorities are finally interested in documenting the corpses being found in mass graves from previous wars.

Iraq has been hit by several successive wars: the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1991 and the US military invasion of Iraq in 2003. These wars resulted in hundreds of thousands of unidentified victims.

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