New Camp Speicher Mass Grave Found; 31 Killed in Iraq

The Pentagon blamed an artillery mishap for the deaths of two U.S. servicemembers on Sunday in northern Iraq. The troops were conducting a counter-fire mission against an Islamic State mortar site when the accident happened. Iraq reported that the soldiers were operating in Kurdistan at the time but gave no further details.

Authorities have exhumed the bodies of 267 victims of the 2014 Camp Speicher massacre. This newly discovered mass grave was found in al-Qusor al-Reasia near Tikrit, and it brings the total dead to 2,694 people, by some estimates. Many of the victims were air force cadets.

At least 31 others were killed and nine were wounded in recent violence:

One policeman was killed and two were wounded by a blast in Hammam al-Alil.

Gunmen killed a policeman in Kirkuk.

In Tal Afar, a gunman killed a civilian.

In Mosul, a federal policeman was shot to death.

 In Baghdad, a pair of bombings wounded four people.

Two Peshmerga were wounded by sniper fire in Daquq.

An explosion involving old ordnance wounded a civilian in Owanait.

Turkey reported killing 13 guerrillas during strikes targeting Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.) locations.

Militiamen killed five militants in Albu Awad.

In Baaj, five militants were killed.

Two militants were killed in Albu Bakr during a clash with soldiers.

A militant leader and his companion were killed during an operation in Hawi al-Adhaim.

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.