Thousands of bodies exhumed from macabre burial sites in Syria could belong to the victims of murderous ISIS executioner Jihadi John, Sun Online can reveal.

Medical charity Initial Body Recover [IBR] has dug up more than 4,000 bodies from six mass graves in Raqqa, once the dark heart of the terror group's tyrannical empire.

18 A medical team in Syria has dug up thousands of bodies in the hopes of finding and identifying Jihadi John's victims Credit: Owen Holdaway

Masked executioner Jihadi John - real name Mohammed Emwazi - was responsible for taking part in the executions of seven western hostages and 22 Syrians in sick ISIS propaganda videos - and is believed to have killed many more captives off camera .

The remains of the Westerners - including American journalist James Foley and Brits Alan Henning and David Haines - have never been found.

But they are not believed to be among the bodies seen by Sun Online as such high-status prisoners are highly unlikely to have been handed over to the medical team led by Dr Yasar Khamis in Raqqa.

18 Lead investigator Dr Yasar Khamis said many corpses, like this one found in Raqqa, showed signs of decapitation Credit: Owen Holdaway

18 This corpse, which was also decapitated, was one of 4,000 to be dug up from macabre burial sites in the terror group's former 'capital' of Raqqa

Dr Khamis says he has found several decapitated bodies buried in the infamous orange jumpsuits worn by ISIS execution victims.

Speaking to Sun Online, who joined the volunteers on their quest for answers, Dr Khamis said: "Identifying the dead can be extremely hard as often the bodies are too decomposed.

"When we first entered the city, it was a disaster. Our work was very hard because of [unexploded] bombs, even though we were recovering a lot of dead ISIS fighters and their victims," Dr Khamis said.

"It was particularly dangerous near the hospital. The smell was terrible and getting the bodies that were buried underground in the tunnels was very difficult."

"In total we have recovered over 4,000 bodies, [but] we are finding more and more each day.

18 Masked executioner Jihadi John - real name Mohammed Emwazi - was responsible for taking part in the executions of seven western hostages and 22 Syrians in sick ISIS propaganda videos Credit: Refer to Caption

18 Dr Khamis' team has so far found six mass graves, each with at least 300 bodies, but the vast majority are so decomposed they are impossible to identify Credit: Owen Holdaway

18 The majority of corpses dug up in Raqqa apparently belong to Syrians who were killed when airstrikes levelled the city during the terror group's final days there

18 Dr Khamis' team has traversed minefield and tunnels to recover the bodies, though most of them have simply been reburied in 'nameless' graves Credit: Owen Holdaway

18 This is apparently the body of a mother and son who died in an airstrike near Raqqa Credit: Owen Holdaway

"We simply don't have the resources. The best we can usually do is just to catalogue them and give them a good [unnamed] burial."

While many of these bodies belong to victims of airstrikes which levelled much the city, not all of them are Syrian locals.

Dr Khamis said the bodies were recovered from "vast", landmine-strewn area around the Syrian 17th Army base, three miles north of Raqqa.

The US team handed over the six bodies seen in the photos in the article but kept a seventh, believed to be the beheaded remains of a "foreign male", because they wanted to carry out further tests.

18 The medical team told Sun Online this man was killed by shrapnel from a falling bomb Credit: Owen Holdaway

18 Dr Khamis, right, allowed Sun Online to join his team on their quest to find Emwazi's victims

18 Jihadi John, real name Mohammed Emwazi, was filmed decapitating several westerners including Brit aid worker Alan Henning in sick execution videos Credit: Sky News

18 The body of British aid worker Alan Henning, who was executed by Emwazi on camera, has never been found Credit: PA:Press Association

18 Brit David Haines was the third Western hostage murdered by Jihadi John in September 2014

18 This is the internet cafe in Raqqa, once the heart of ISIS's murderous regime, where Emwazi was killed by a US drone strike

18

These are the charred and battered remains of an operating room at a Raqqa hospital which the medical team searched

18 The team is believed to have found several bodies buried inside one of ISIS' secret tunnels near a bombed out hospital in Raqqa

18 Dr Khamis said the search for bodies was particularly difficult around the hospital in Raqqa where the 'smell was terrible' Credit: Owen Holdaway

18 Hopes of finding Emwazi's victims were given a boost when the surviving members of the so-called ISIS Beatles - Alexanda Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh - were captured in January Credit: Reuters

Read more about the ISIS terror group FLASHPOINT US Army sends reinforcements to Syria after growing threat from ISIS and Russia CHATTY PROFESSOR ISIS leader ‘The Professor’ ratted on 68 jihadis before he was terror boss HELL IN PARADISE ISIS take over stunning celeb holiday islands - burning down luxury hotels ‘NEW LOW' BLM group 'calling for deaths of cops' is 'almost worthy of ISIS,' top cop says TERROR RANT ISIS celebrate 9/11 attack as 'pivotal moment' on Twin Towers anniversary MUM'S THE WORD 'Jihadi bride' mum-of-nine refuses to speak in court over XR press blockade

Hopes of one-day finding Emwazi's victims were given a huge boost when two of his fellow 'Beatles' execution gang, Alexanda Kotey, 34, and El Shafee Elsheikh, 29, were captured in Eastern Syria in January.

In February, Haines' heartbroken wife Dragana demanded the two killers reveal where the aid worker from east Yorkshire was buried.

Mohammed, one of the volunteers scouring Raqqa's burial sites, said: "I really hope [the families in the UK & America] can get their relatives' bodies back.

"We talk with families who [also] just want to know if they can bury their dead – but usually we don’t know what happened to their relatives.”

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.'