A mass grave that is thought to contain the remains of up to 150 Shiite Muslims killed by Saddam Hussein's regime has been uncovered near Basra in southern Iraq.
The mass grave, located along a stretch of highway that runs toward the city of Nasiriyah, appeared to be among the largest found in the south since Saddam's government was toppled by the US-led invasion.
The first 32 coffins removed yesterday were lined up in Basra's al-Jumhuriya Grand Mosque, and relatives searched through them for loved ones who disappeared during Saddam's repression of a 1999 Shiite uprising.
A Shiite stronghold, Basra was brutally punished during Saddam's era for fostering insurgencies against his Sunni-dominated regime. Thousands were believed to have been killed in a failed revolt in 1991 after the Gulf War.
In March 1999, a second uprising broke out after the killing of a prominent Shiite cleric. Thousands more were believed to have been arrested, imprisoned and in some cases executed.
Mosque officials said witnesses reported the bodies of those executed were dumped at the newly discovered site. Many of the bodies exhumed had their hands tied and blindfolds still wrapped around the skulls.
Last Friday, Amnesty International reported finding a grave containing 40 bodies at Abul Khasib in southern Iraq, thought to contain bodies from the 1991 uprising. Outside the holy Shiite city of Najaf, 72 bodies were removed from a grave earlier this month, also apparently dating to 1991.
Over the past 20 years, Amnesty International has collected information on about 17,000 disappearances in Iraq but says the actual figure may be much higher.
AP