Mass Graves of 1,000 Iraqi Soldiers Excavated

Forensic teams in the newly-liberated Iraqi city of Tikrit have begun to excavate a series of mass graves.

The 12 sites, thought to contain the remains of up to 1,500 men, are all close to the former US Army base Camp Speicher.

The camp was overrun by Islamic State fighters in June 2014 who then carried out a systematic execution of captured Iraqi government Shia troops.

The majority of those murdered were Iraqi Air Force cadets.

The filmed killings have since featured heavily in IS propaganda videos as they seek to undermine morale in the Iraqi armed forces.

The operation to re-take Tikrit, which took over a month to complete, was carried out with the help of Iranian-backed Shia militia and US airstrikes.

Attention now turns to the IS stronghold of Mosul where the fight is expected to be far more intense.