News

Rights groups say there are hundreds of graves in Iraq with the bodies of up to 300,000 people killed under Saddam.

"This mass grave represents one of the ugliest crimes of the former regime and a huge violation of human rights," said Mr Sudani of the latest find in Anbar.

"Through the remains of clothes and other things, we believe they were from different sectors of Iraqi society. Some trenches included women and children, others included soldiers with military uniforms or tracksuits," he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The minister said the remains would be sent to the health ministry for forensic examination, to match them with the names of soldiers and people who went missing during the Iran-Iraq war.

The victims could also be Kurds, against whom Saddam waged military campaigns in the 1980s and 90s, and Shias who staged an uprising in 1991.