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Mass grave of Kurds discovered in southern
Iraq
2.2.2007 |
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February
2, 2007
Samawa, southern Iraq, -- A grave containing
the bodies of between 200 and 250 Kurdish prisoners
has been found in the deserted province of Muthanna
near the border with Saudi Arabia, a provincial
official said on Thursday.
Amin Mohammed Amin said the grave was found west of
the town of Salman after tip-offs from inhabitants
of the sparsely populated region.
A five-member commission has been set up to verify
the find and exhume the bodies from mass grave,
located less than a kilometre from a former
detention camp.
The corpses of between 200 and 250 prisoners held by
the former regime of Saddam Hussein had been found,
and were almost certainly Kurds in light of the
traditional clothes they wore, Amin said.
The grave extended over more than 200 square metres
and included the bodies of men, women and children,
he added.
The commission consists of a judge, a representative
of the Samawa provincial council, the provincial
deputy prefect and two municipal officials, he said.
Work to unearth the bodies and rebury them according
to Islamic rites has already begun, Amin said.
More than 180 000 Iraqi Kurds were killed during the
Anfal military campaign in northern Iraq in 1987-88,
when thousands of villages were destroyed and
hundreds of thousands of people displaced.
Six former officials of Saddam's regime are
currently on trial in Baghdad for their roles in
those operations, including the late dictator's
cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid - also known as
"Chemical Ali" - who has been charged with genocide.
Majid earned his nickname for allegedly ordering the
use of chemical weapons during the Anfal campaign.
AFP
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