Posted on 04/05/2003 4:09:51 PM PST by knak
SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) - The desiccated remains of as many as 200 people have been found by British soldiers in an abandoned warehouse in southern Iraq along with catalogues of grisly photographs of slain men.
Dozens of wooden coffins piled five high in places and plastic bags full of bones filled one building in the rundown military complex near Iraq's second city of Basra, said correspondents with British forces.
The Arab television news channel al-Jazeera quoted an unnamed Iraqi official in Basra as saying the remains were those of Iraqi soldiers killed in the 1980-88 war with Iran and recently repatriated by Tehran.
The official said the start of the U.S.-led war prevented authorities from returning the bodies to their families.
Although the Iran-Iraq war, which cost an estimated one million lives, ended 15 years ago, the two countries still exchange bodies and prisoners of war. The latest prisoner swap ended on March 19 -- a day before the start of the current war.
In a cargo container near the coffins, British soldiers found scrapbooks stuffed with faded photographs of corpses, most of which appeared to have gunshot wounds to the head.
Vanessa Allen, a correspondent with Britain's Press Association, reported that some of the faces had been burned, mutilated or scarred by horrific wounds.
"Bloody hell, these are all executions," Captain Jack Kemp was quoted as saying by the Press Association as he leafed through the gory photographs. It was not clear if the pictures were connected to the nearby remains.
U.S. and British officials have indicated that they are preparing to try Iraqi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity and have dispatched investigators to hunt for evidence.
The warehouse near Basra was placed out of bounds on Saturday and experts were called in to examine the site.
"They are going to treat it as a war grave. They have sealed the area off and are waiting for forensic teams to go in and see what happened," said a British military spokeswoman at war headquarters in Qatar.
It was not immediately clear how long the remains had been in the building, but initial indications suggested the people might have died several years ago.
WAR AND REBELLIONS
The region has been the scene of fierce fighting over the past two decades, with heavy casualties chalked up in the Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War and the Shi'ite Muslim uprising that followed Iraq's defeat in Kuwait.
Bundles of bones and scraps of military uniforms were visible inside the plastic bags on Saturday.
A bloodstained identity card showed the photo of a young man. The teeth in some of the skulls were missing.
Outside the warehouse was a wall dotted with a spray of bullet holes, most at head height. Tiny concrete cells were discovered nearby.
Paul Harris, a correspondent with Britain's Observer newspaper, said portraits of Saddam stared down from some of the grey walls. In several, rusting metal hooks dangled from iron poles embedded in the ceiling.
Human rights organisations and critics of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein say his security forces regularly killed opponents and their families, often recording the evidence and circulating it as a way of maintaining his grip on the country.
Although much of the complex was dilapidated, there was evidence that soldiers had lived in it until recently, with new army shirts found still in their bags.
These thugs keep detailed records; there will be dates.
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