By Hacer Baser

NINEVEH, Iraq

Since July, over 2,000 bodies have been excavated in the western part of Mosul, after the city was cleared from Daesh in June, an Iraqi official said on Friday.

Speaking to an Anadolu Agency correspondent, the civil defense official of Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, Saad Hamid, said that more than 2,100 civilian bodies were found under the ruins.

Hamid said that during their work the team faced "lack of equipment and various security problems such as Deash members firing from hide outs, bunkers, tunnels or basements".

There are still nearly 400 to 500 bodies which need to be removed from the ruins which could take up to two months to finish the work, Hamid added.

In June, the Iraqi army retook the northern city of Mosul, regional capital of Nineveh province, from the terrorist group after a nine-month campaign.

In August, Daesh was driven from Nineveh’s Tal Afar district following a week long army operation.