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 Associated Press Television News footage showed Iraqi troops and civilians digging in dusty soil in a deserted agricultural area on the outskirts of Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. At least three severely decomposed bodies could be seen unearthed from side-by-side graves. One had a turban or bandage tied crudely around his head.
The U.S. military could not confirm the discovery, but said its soldiers, acting on a tip from a local citizen, found at least 10 decaying bodies Tuesday in a separate location, in the sewer shaft of a building in east Baghdad.
Those victims appeared to have died more than two years ago, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, with the Army's 4th Infantry Division. Iraqi police have taken over the investigation, he said.
Latifiyah, a mostly Sunni town that also has some Shiite residents, was taken over by al-Qaida-linked militants a few years ago, and became a hotbed of Sunni militant activity before U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control late last year, said Iraqi Maj. Faisal Ali Hussein, who supervised that digging Tuesday.
Only now are villagers -- feeling safer without the militants there -- beginning to point out possible sites of mass graves in the area, he said.
Most of the bodies were too decomposed to identify and they were reburied next to where they were discovered, said another Iraqi army officer at the scene, who refused to give his name because of safety concerns.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it detained nine suspects and destroyed two "terrorist safe houses" Wednesday in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq across central and northern parts of the country.
One of the men had been wanted for alleged involvement in weapons distribution and car bombings in Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
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 Another suspect was responsible for organizing suicide bombings and helping foreign militants enter Iraq, the statement said.
Information from other detainees already in U.S. custody led American troops on Wednesday to two facilities that housed foreign militants west of Mosul, it said. The buildings were safely destroyed.
In a separate operation Wednesday, Iraqi police said they uncovered a large weapons cache near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Among the load were hundreds of explosive belts, three assembled car bombs and several different types of rockets, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. One suspect was also arrested in the raid.
[Associated
Press; By SINAN SALAHEDDIN]
Associated Press writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
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