ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A mass grave containing the remains of 67 Yazidis who were killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) is set to be exhumed in Sinjar ahead of a forensic examination, an official said Monday.

“The remains of 67 Yazidi citizens inside a grave at the Sharfadin cemetery in Sinjar will be exhumed today, as they are victims of ISIS gunmen,” Shakir Mirani, an officer with the Mass Graves Investigation and Collection Directorate in Dohuk, told The New Region.

He added that they were killed in 2016 and their remains were transferred to the Sharafadin cemetery after the situation stabilized in the area. “Today those remains will be exhumed, samples will be taken, and they will be sent for forensic examination,” Mirani said.

On August 3, 2014, ISIS militants seized control of Sinjar, launching a brutal campaign of killings, abductions, genocidal rape, forced conversions of members of the ethnoreligious minority group, and prompting thousands of Yazidis to flee their homes in hopes of escaping the militant group’s atrocities.

At least 18 countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, and Switzerland, have officially recognized ISIS' crimes against the Yazidi community as a genocide.

Over ten years on, thousands of Yazidis remain missing, and tens of thousands of others are unwilling to return to their homes due to security concerns exacerbated by a lack of services and reconstruction.

In August, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani called on the Iraqi federal government to implement the Sinjar Agreement to ensure the safe return of the displaced individuals.

In October 2020, Erbil and Baghdad signed the Sinjar Agreement, aimed at normalizing the situation in the Yazidi heartland. The agreement outlined that the federal government would oversee security operations in Sinjar in collaboration with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), while Nineveh's local administration would manage public services.

However, six years after its ratification, the agreement has yet to be implemented.