A mass grave containing the remains of 150 Kurdish women and children has been discovered in the Tel Shaikha area of the Samawah desert in Muthanna Governorate, southeast of Baghdad. The grave is among 23 such sites unearthed in the region in recent years, revealing the atrocities of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime during the 1980s.

Muthanna Governor Mohannad Al-Ltabi shared harrowing details during a press conference, describing the somber discoveries at the site. “The skull of a child the size of my hand… A child holding a mirror, gazing at the beauty of Kurdistan, and a woman clutching a wallet with a few dirhams—these discoveries underscore the extreme brutality of the Baathists,” he said.

The victims, predominantly women and children, were reportedly executed and buried during the Anfal campaign, a genocidal operation targeting the Kurdish population under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

A joint technical team has been working to excavate the site and has called on the Iraqi federal government for material and logistical support. Zargham Kamil Abdul-Majid, head of the technical team, confirmed ongoing efforts to recover and identify the remains. “The mass grave contains a large number of bodies, including women, children, old and young. This is yet another testimony to the brutality of the Baathist regime,” he said.

Plans are underway to transport the remains to Baghdad for forensic identification. Ala Jamil Shammari, director of the Muthanna Martyrs, emphasized the gravity of the findings, describing them as a chilling reminder of Iraq’s dark past.

Despite the excavation of 16 of the 23 mass graves discovered in Samawah, the families of the victims have yet to see meaningful action or compensation from the Iraqi federal government. The absence of justice and reparations continues to deepen the wounds of one of the most brutal chapters in Iraq’s history.

The Anfal campaign, which led to the massacre of tens of thousands of Kurds, remains a painful memory for the Kurdish community and a stark reminder of the atrocities committed during the Baathist era.