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Syria’s Raqqa rocked by explosions: NGO

  • June 01, 2019

Two explosions in Syria’s northern city of Raqqa on Saturday claimed the lives of 10 people, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said. Twenty people were wounded in the attacks, which occurred in two different locations in the city, it added.

Raqqa once served as the de facto capital of the “Islamic State” (IS) terror group. The blasts occurred after iftar, the meal after sunset that breaks daylong fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Read more: Iraqis wonder what will follow ‘Islamic State’ in Mosul

SOHR said the first blast was a roadside bomb in the city center. The second one was carried out by a suicide attacker driving a vehicle at a checkpoint of US-backed fighters in the central Naim Square, killing five fighters and five civilians.

“The car bomb attack was targeting an SDF position,” SOHR Director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP, referring to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by Washington which took control of the city from IS in October 2017.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts. Similar suicide attacks have been carried out in the past by IS members. 

IS jihadis seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, declaring a “caliphate” in areas it controlled.

Several offensives with US-led coalition backing chipped away at the “caliphate” until it was declared eliminated on March 23. Blasts and hit-and-run attacks have continued in both countries, with IS jihadists still scattered in the region.

  • People standing over body bags

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Field of the unknown dead

    The deadly trail of the Islamic Caliphate has left behind several mass graves in Raqqa. So far only 750 out of 4,360 bodies have been identified. Thousands of dead men, women, children — IS soldiers as well as their victims — are unlikely ever to be identified.

  • Men digging up a grave

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Digging in the dirt

    By 10 a.m., a team of 12-15 workers have already brought the first bodies up from the ground. On site the Rapid Response Unit led by Doctor Assad Mohammad examines the bodies for injuries, clothes, personal belongings or specific marks and gender in an attempt to identify them.

  • A man lifting a body bag out of a grave

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    A heavy lift

    Men from the team lift what they team believe to be the remains of an IS fighter of African origin. He was buried in a proper grave but the corpse was so big that it was impossible to close the tarpaulin body bag. Severe burns on the man’s bag suggest he was killed in an airstrike.

  • Two small graves

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Baby graves

    Half a meter into the ground the workers find two identical holes serving as a last resting spot for either unborn children or the infants of IS wives. Several of the graves reveal nothing but a tiny pile of bones neatly wrapped in white cloth. As some of the infants never even got a name, they most likely will never be identified.

  • A man lifting a bundle from a grave

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Helping to bring Raqqa back from the dead

    It’s a macabre job, but for 30-year-old Hamdu el-Hamid, here on his knees excavating an infant, and his colleagues, the hours spent digging for piles of bones or decaying bodies have not become just another daily routine. They also believe their work is a means to bring Raqqa back to life and regain a form of normality.

  • A man lifting a small bundle from a bag

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Unborn IS generation

    Several of the graves and tombs hold tiny remains of infants or fetuses from miscarriages from what are believed to be IS women. In the northern part of the area some graves contain between 10-15 bodies, including civilians killed in airstrikes or executed by IS forces.

  • A mass grave in Raqqa

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    A last resting place

    To date al-Fukheikha is the largest mass grave revealed in Raqqa. Not in size but in numbers, with an estimated 3,000 bodies. It’s expected it will take the Rapid Response Unit 6-7 months to finish their job. Thirteen mass graves have been discovered in Raqqa, and since January 2018 more than 4,360 bodies have been exhumed.

  • An empty grave

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Raqqa’s open wound

    On the surface, the al-Fukheikha suburb is quiet and peaceful. But each grave is another wound opened; The southern part of the field of primarily holds individual graves with an estimated 900 bodies whereas the northern part — consisting of mass graves — is estimated to contain more than 1,600 bodies.

  • Men carrying body bags and shovels

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    A heavy burden

    “I would need a calculator to figure out the number of bodies I have helped to exhume, examine and document,” Doctor Assad Mohammed told DW. He’s been working as a forensic expert at several of the mass graves in Raqqa.

  • A slab of stone covering a grave

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Changing history

    More than 80 bodies were exhumed within the first three weeks of discovering the tombs and graves of al-Fukheikha. Now the numbers have exceeded 550. “This used to be a land for farmers. Not a cemetery. Not a training camp or burial site for IS. Our job is to change this place back to being agricultural land. This is not a graveyard,” says Assad Mohammed.

  • A group of men praying

    Deadly trail of ‘Islamic State’ in Raqqa

    Praying for the dead

    The physical and mental toils mean the men regularly need breaks to smoke, drink tea or most importantly to hold midday prayers in an effort to forget the brutal working conditions — at least for a few minutes.

    Author: Thea Pedersen (Raqqa)


sri/amp (AFP, AP)

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/syria-s-raqqa-rocked-by-explosions-ngo/a-49003959?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

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