SAMAWA, April 30: Investigators have claimed uncovering a mass grave in southern Iraq containing as many as 1,500 bodies, most of them thought to be Kurds removed from their homes in the late 1980s. The site, near the town of Samawa, about 300kms south of Baghdad, consists of 18 shallow trenches dug by earth-moving vehicles into hard limestone rock, an official said.

Most of the victims were women and children who were apparently lined up in front of the pits and shot with AK-47 assault rifles, according to a US investigator. Around 110 bodies have been excavated from the site so far, nearly two-thirds of them children and teenagers, the official added.

They are being forensically examined and evidence gathered will be used to build cases against Saddam Hussein and his top deputies for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the investigator said. The site appears to have been carefully chosen and was well concealed, factors prosecutors believe will convince a court of the systematic nature of the crime.—Reuters