DHAKA: A court in Iraq has sentenced 24 suspected members of Islamic State (IS) to death for their role in the massacre of hundreds of soldiers in June 2014.

As many as 1,700 soldiers, most of them Shia Muslim recruits, were killed when the jihadist group overran the Camp Speicher military base near Tikrit, reports bbc.com

IS posted graphic photos and video online documenting the atrocity.

Iraqi government forces arrested dozens of people suspected of involvement after recapturing Tikrit in March.

Forensic teams also began exhuming the remains of victims from mass graves in the area. So far more than 470 bodies have been found at four sites.

BDST: 0838 HRS, JULY 10, 2015
RS