Iraqi officials are inspecting the remains of victims killed by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) in al-Rutbah, western Anbar province, and dumped in mass graves.

The Iraqi army's 1st division on February 9th found, with the help of residents, two mass graves in al-Rutbah , Mayor Imad Meshaal told Diyaruna.

One mass grave was discovered in a landfill used for medical waste located in al-Askari neighbourhood in central al-Rutbah, while the other is located on the southern edge of the town in the area of al-Wadi.

The mass graves include bodies of Iraqi security forces and civilians executed by ISIL, Meshaal said.

He estimated that between 20 and 30 victims were liquidated and covered haphazardly with stones and construction debris using bulldozers in the first grave.

Initial investigations indicate that ISIL executed and dumped the bodies in the mass graves sometime after its occupation of al-Rutbah in the summer of 2014, Meshaal said, adding that it is difficult to determine the exact date or the number of bodies buried at this time.

Iraqi forces, backed by local fighters, regained control of al-Rutbah in May 2016 after a fierce battle with ISIL.

The liberation of al-Rutbah , which lies on a strategic road linking Iraq with both Jordan and Syria, is considered a major blow to ISIL, costing the group millions of dollars in monthly revenue.

Not much is known yet about the victims buried in the mass grave outside the town, in al-Wadi area, Meshaal said. "We do not have a clear vision about that one so far, but it also includes a number of victims killed at the hands of ISIL."

"We have cordoned off the two graves and addressed the concerned government bodies, such as the Ministry of Health, and human rights organisations about them," he said.

"We now await the arrival of a team of forensic experts and specialists in mass graves to open the graves and exhume the bodies, to conduct genetic tests and determine to whom they belong," he said.

Dozens of mass graves in Iraq

Since the end of 2015, Iraqi forces have found dozens of mass graves in Iraq , mostly in the city of Sinjar, Ninawa province.

The two graves in al-Rutbah are the first discovered in the district, but not the first in Anbar province.

In April 2016, the provincial government announced the discovery of three mass graves in al-Malaab neighbourhood, south of Ramadi, that contained the remains of 30 soldiers and civilians executed by ISIL.

Athal al-Fahdawi, a member of the Anbar provincial council, said the discovery of more graves in the province "gives a clear picture of the size of the terrorists' violations against the population in areas that were under their grip".

"[ISIL] did not show any mercy toward the population and did not treat them as human beings," he told Diyaruna, adding that it is likely more mass graves will be discovered.

The graves discovered in al-Rutbah will be investigated according to the established protocol, he said, which includes "first opening them by a specialised medical and technical team to identify the number of victims, when and how they were killed."

Then "samples from the remains are transferred to the Forensic Medicine Department in Baghdad for DNA analysis in order to identify them", after which the bodies are "handed over to their families for re-burial".

Investigating ISIL's crimes

Iraqi MP Habib al-Tarafi, a member of the parliamentary human rights committee, stressed the importance of the international community helping Iraq monitor and investigate ISIL's crimes, particularly the case of mass graves.

"The international coalition offers us great military support and there are distinct international efforts in the relief and humanitarian areas," he told Diyaruna.

"But we hope the world will give us what we need in terms of expertise and modern techniques" related to exhuming the bodies and conducting the necessary tests to identify them, he said.

"In every day that passes, our forces achieve progress on ISIL, and every retreat of the group reveals many of its horrendous crimes," al-Tarafi said.