An Iraqi resident collects human bones at a site in Kerbala, 270 km (160 miles) south of Baghdad yesterday. - REUTERS
KARBALA, Iraq (AP):
MUNICIPAL WORKERS in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala have uncovered remains that police said yesterday were part of a mass grave thought to date back to 1991, when Saddam Hussein's regime quenched a Shi'ite uprising in the south.
The remains discovered on Monday as workers were doing maintenance work on water pipes were sent for testing in an effort to identify the bodies, Karbala police spokesman Rahman Mashawy said.
He said it was hard to determine how many bodies were in there, but added there may have been tens of them. The police claim could not be independently verified.
NEW EVIDENCE
Mashawy said "witnesses" told police that the area where the remains have been discovered, not far from the Imam Abbas Shrine in the centre of the city, used to be a park where bodies were buried in 1991.
He said that at least 40 people with missing relatives have checked with police to see if their loved ones may have been in the grave.
"The families said this is new evidence that can be presented to the court trying Saddam Hussein," Mashawy said.
Human rights organisations estimate that more than 300,000 people, mainly Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims, were killed and buried in mass graves during Saddam Hussein's reign, which ended when United States-led forces toppled his regime in 2003.
