Mass grave found near Iraqi Shiite town

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2004

AL-KIFL, Iraq (AFP) — A mass grave containing the bodies of Shiite Muslims executed by Saddam Hussein's regime after a 1991 revolt has been found in central Iraq, officials said.

About 40 decomposed bodies were dug up and more were being exhumed as searchers scoured the area near the town of Al-Kifl, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

A local religious and political leader, Sheikh Haytham Issawi, said the mass grave was found Thursday and that the exhumations started Friday.

The bodies belonged "to families executed in 1991," when Saddam's regime suppressed a Shiite revolt after that year's Gulf war. Women were among the victims, said Issawi, a representative of Shiite radical leader Moqtada Sadr.

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