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Local officials confirmed to VOA on Thursday that a mass grave containing the remains of 17 people has been found in Hawija town, west of Iraq’s disputed province of Kirkuk. Pary Nuri, an adviser to the Iraqi president, told VOA the remains are believed to belong to peshmerga fighters captured by the Islamic State in late 2014. Kurdish military officials told VOA that about 105 Kurdish peshmerga and volunteer fighters have gone missing since 2014 during the U.S.-led coalition’s fight against IS.
