Iraq: Mass Grave Found South of Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqi soldiers acting on tips from detained Shiite militiamen found 14 bodies Saturday that had been buried in a field south of Baghdad, officials said.

Twelve bodies found Saturday had been dumped in one grave about 500 yards away from the local office of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement, while two others were buried together in a nearby area on the western outskirts of Mahmoudiya, a city spokesman said.

The grisly discoveries came two days after the Iraqi troops found the remains of 30 people believed to have been killed more than a year ago in three abandoned houses elsewhere in the area.

Iraqi soldiers continued to comb the palm tree-lined desert area as the search for more bodies continued on Saturday.

Associated Press photos showed U.S. soldiers providing cover as the Iraqi troops took the bodies away in plastic bags.

The Shiite fighters were angry over fierce attacks by Sunni insurgents leading to a fierce cycle of retaliatory sectarian violence that only ebbed last year with a cease-fire by al-Sadr, a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and an influx of American troops.

The U.S. military said Thursday's mass grave was the first unearthed in the area south of Baghdad. It had no immediate comment on Saturday's discovery. [MORE]