The Raqqa Civil Council has set up special teams for the difficult and crucial task of identifying and excavating ISIS mass graves.

On Thursday the largest mass grave was excavated and the remains of 20 people have been recovered. The mass grave is located in the village of Al-Fukheikha in the area of Al Shamiya, south of Raqqa.

The team had begun its work to recover the remains of people buried in the mentioned mass grave last month.

According to forensic experts and team workers, there are more than 3,000 bodies buried in this mass grave and 180 have been exhumed so far.

The lack of necessary equipment makes the work of the teams more difficult. The teams use light tools not suitable for the recovery of the remains, and at the same time the workers have to be extra careful as the area is full of scorpions.

Mihemed El Eli, a specialist in forensic medicine, said: “We work at this mass grave site during the day. There are too many bodies buried in this grave and they were buried there at the time of DAESH occupation of Raqqa.”

El Eli said that in this grave some 2,000 bodies of DAESH mercenaries are also buried.

Last month 3,310 bodies were found and removed from a mass grave in the Panorama region of Raqqa.

The identity of 550 remains was confirmed and the remains were delivered to their families.

850 bodies were found to belong to DAESH mercenaries, while 910 bodies could not be identified.