GRAVE EXCAVATION GOES ON

Sky News ^ | 5/14/03 | Sky News Staff

[Pro-Bush]

GRAVE EXCAVATION GOES ON

The excavation of several mass graves in Iraq, holding around 15,000 bodies, is continuing.

The graves were discovered last week in the central city of Hilla, site of ancient Babylon, the Iraqi National Congress (INC) said.

The bodies are thought to date back to the Shiite uprising that followed the US withdrawal from Iraq in 1991.

"In the last week, four sites have been discovered in Al-Hilla city alone, with approximately 15,000 bodies," said Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman of the INC.

"Citizens are excavating with great sadness and no assistance, collecting bones.

"Mothers and fathers are trying to identify their children with ID cards and scraps of clothes that they were last seen in," he said.

Iraqis uncover skull in Hilla

He appealed to the US-led coalition's Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, and other organisations to help the Iraqi people account for hundreds of thousands still missing.

A US army official in Hilla could not confirm the find in the graves, situated around 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Torture

But a spokesman from the Iraqi National Congress said that over a million people were killed during Saddam's reign.

He also said that there was evidence of torture and murder among the 15,000 bodies found in Hilla.

US marines at the site said the bones included those of children aged around 10-12.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced at the end of April that it had contacted coalition forces and a number of aid agencies to try to check numerous reports about mass graves in Iraq.

Last Updated: 05:35 UK, Wednesday May 14, 2003

[Pro-Bush]

Where is the media on this?

[Paleo Conservative]

Running stories about the lack of confirmed WMD sites.

[Pro-Bush]

Thanks Paleo. "The Lone post"!