50 bodies found in NW Baghdad mass graves

US-backed Sunni tribesmen finds the grave while patrolling the village of Jazeerah, near Lake Tharthar.

About 50 dead bodies have been discovered in a mass grave northwest of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

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US-backed Sunni tribesmen found the grave while patrolling the village of Jazeerah, 25 kilometres west of Samarra near Lake Tharthar, said Col Mazin Younis Hussein, commander of the Samarra support force, a group of local men working with US forces.

Some of the bodies were severely decomposed, suggesting they had been buried months ago, while other victims appeared to have been killed recently, said Samarra police Lt Muthana Shakir, who visited the site yesterday and saw the bodies.

As many as 200 bodies have been unearthed in recent months from mass graves around Lake Tharthar.