Mass grave with 1,700 bodies discovered in Saddam's palace

In Tikrit, Iraq, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, mass graves have been found, believed to contain at least 1700 Iraqi soldiers, reports CNN, according to the Patria News Agency.

Since mid-last year, Tikrit was under the occupation of the Islamic State (ISIL), and the Iraqi army liberated it last week.

The Islamic State previously stated that 1700 soldiers, captured in June last year near an Iraqi base near Tikrit, were executed within the palace complex where the former dictator was buried. Forensic experts have so far exhumed 20 bodies, and 12 graves have been found.

A witness, an Iraqi soldier who miraculously escaped the massacre by pretending to be dead, recounted how Islamic State members took the captured soldiers to the palace, telling them they would be safe until a prisoner exchange could be organized. However, once inside the palace, the soldiers were separated into smaller groups, executed, and buried in mass graves.

As the soldier pointed out, he was thrown into the river and floated to the embankment, but fortunately, he was only wounded and managed to survive.