The remains of hundreds of Yazidis who were massacred during the genocidal attacks of ISIS against Shengal (Sinjar) and buried in mass graves in 2014 have still not been identified.

According to official data, approximately 5 thousand people were massacred in Shengal on 3 August 2014, most of them en masse.

Thousands of Yazidi women and children were kidnapped and thousands of people had to migrate to South Kurdistan, Rojava and North Kurdistan as a result of the bloody onslaught.

The Iraqi authorities organised a ceremony for 41 bodies after the finalization of identification procedures. On Monday, coffins with portraits of the victims and covered with flowers were paraded on military pick-up trucks in front of the magnificent Martyrs' Monument in Baghdad, accompanied by a military band.

The representative of the Iraqi Prime Minister and the Minister of Health also attended the ceremony, during which the remains were handed over to their families.

According to Iraqi media, DNA procedures are still continuing for dozens of bodies. So far, the remains of 188 Yazidis have been handed over to their families.

A ceremony is expected to be held in Solax on 24 January and the bodies will be taken to the villages of Herdan, Koço and Qina Mihrkan. After the burials, charity will be distributed in all three villages for three days.

The city of Shengal in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is the last contiguous settlement area of the Yazidi community. Thousands of Yazidis were murdered and thousands of women and children were taken prisoner in the 3 August 2014 onslaught on Shengal by ISIS militants. While ISIS gangs began murdering Yazidis in Shengal, the Peshmerga left, leaving the Yazidis behind, unprotected. The guerrillas of HPG (People’s Defense Forces) and YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops) and fighters of the YPG (People’s Defense Units) and YPJ (Women’s Defense Units) came to the Yazidi people's aid in the face of ISIS aggression. Thanks to a months-long selfless struggle, the city was liberated on 13 November 2015. After the liberation of the city, the HPG and YPG/YPJ subsequently withdrew in 2017. People who returned to their land after Shengal's independence reformed, established defensive units and built their institutions.