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Mass Grave Found In Baghdad House

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By DOUG SMITH, Los Angeles Times

Published: November 18, 2007

BAGHDAD - A least 30 bodies were discovered in an unfinished west Baghdad house Saturday as police and local citizens groups probed neighborhoods that they said until recently were under the control of militants from al-Qaida in Iraq.

Iraqi police said the house in the heavily Sunni Muslim Hur Rijab section of the Dora neighborhood contained decomposed bodies wrapped in black plastic.

The bodies, some bearing identification and others not, appeared to be mainly Shiites. They were transported in numbered bags to the Kadhimin mosque in a Shiite portion of Dora, police said.

The discovery was made during a joint operation by police and members of the Awakening Council of Sunnis who have turned against the militant group and are cooperating with authorities. A source for the Interior Ministry said police were searching for bombs when they were drawn to the deserted house by a foul smell.

A mass grave containing at least 22 bodies also believed to be victims of sectarian killings was discovered Nov. 6 by joint Iraqi-U.S. forces in a Sunni area near Tharthar Lake, northwest of Baghdad.

In August, police in Baqubah found about 60 bodies buried on the northwestern outskirts of the city in strife-torn Diyala province. Authorities think they, and other victims previously found in mass graves, were killed by the Iraqi government more than a decade ago when it was run by Saddam Hussein.

Some other mass graves described during the trial that led to Saddam's execution have not been unearthed.

Last week, the International Red Cross said at least 375,000 people were missing in Iraq, many of them victims of Sunni and Shiite extremists who kidnapped and killed members of the rival Islamic sect.

The wave of sectarian slaughter has receded somewhat in recent months as more and more Sunnis have turned against al-Qaida and other extremist groups and as Shiite militias have toned down their operations, perhaps fearing a backlash in the Shiite community.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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