Iraqi security officials say government forces have found a mass grave in the country’s northern province of Nineveh, containing the bodies of dozens of members of Yazidi minority, who are believed to have been executed by Takfiri Daesh terrorists when they were in control of a terrain.

Local official Chokor Melhem Elias told AFP on Wednesday that “the mass grave contains the bodies of 73 people, men, women and children executed by Daesh terrorists when they controlled… Sinjar.”

He said Iraqi forces made the latest discovery in the Rambussi area near the town of Qahtaniyah, located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Mosul.

Back in August 2014, Daesh terrorists overran Sinjar, killing, raping, and enslaving large numbers of Yazidi.

The region was recaptured in November 2015, during an operation by Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Izadi fighters.

The Office of Kidnapped Affairs in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk said earlier this year that around 3,500 Izadi Kurds were still being held captive by Daesh extremists, adding that a large proportion of the abductees were women and children.

The Endowments and Religious Affairs Ministry of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government announced in early August that Daesh’s genocide against Izadis had forced nearly 360,000 members of the minority to flee their hometowns, and another 90,000 had left Iraq and taken refuge in others countries.

It added that Daesh militants have kidnapped 6,417 Izadi Kurds, including 1,102 women and 1,655 children, since 2014.

Additionally, 2,645 children have lost their first line of protection, and the number includes 220 kids whose parents are still being held captive.