Shaffer
05-06-03, 07:41 AM
NEAR BABYLON, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqis uncovered on Saturday what could be a mass grave dating back to a 1991 anti-Saddam uprising, digging up dozens of bones wrapped in stained blankets and skulls with rectangles cut out of the back.
Iraqis said they were looking for their sons, brothers, fathers and one mother who they said were taken from their homes in 1991 during the uprising that broke out in the aftermath of the Gulf War.
A few said they knew of this site but had never dared to start digging with President Saddam Hussein still in power.
U.S. Marines, who had cordoned off the site ahead of the arrival of forensic scientists, said they had found documents dating back to 1990 and needles scattered over the bodies in a bid to keep dogs and cats from digging there.
"We suspect that this happened during the 1991 uprising and eyewitnesses say they saw people drive up here to dump the dead," Lieutenant David Lewis of the 1st Marine regiment, 1/4 battalion, told Reuters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9619-2003May3?language=printer
Iraqis said they were looking for their sons, brothers, fathers and one mother who they said were taken from their homes in 1991 during the uprising that broke out in the aftermath of the Gulf War.
A few said they knew of this site but had never dared to start digging with President Saddam Hussein still in power.
U.S. Marines, who had cordoned off the site ahead of the arrival of forensic scientists, said they had found documents dating back to 1990 and needles scattered over the bodies in a bid to keep dogs and cats from digging there.
"We suspect that this happened during the 1991 uprising and eyewitnesses say they saw people drive up here to dump the dead," Lieutenant David Lewis of the 1st Marine regiment, 1/4 battalion, told Reuters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9619-2003May3?language=printer