A hand is seen as Iraqi forensic teams recovered dead bodies from a mass grave in the presidential compound of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, on April 6, 2015. (Reuters file photo)
BAGHDAD, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi forces found a mass grave containing dozens of decomposed bodies in Hawijah area in the southwestern province of Kirkuk, a provincial police source said Friday.
The mass grave, found at the edge of al-Riyadh town, some 230 km north of the capital Baghdad, looks like open wells, with remains of bodies and skeletons inside, Salman al-Obeidi told Xinhua.
The number of the bodies is not known yet, as many of them have become skeletons because of the longtime killing by the militants, Al-Obeidi said
"We are waiting for the arrival of a specialized team to open the mass grave and to retrieve the bodies to identify them," he added.
Hashim al-Jheishi, a resident in the town, told Xinhua that Islamic State (IS) militants used to carry out almost daily executions in this area of those suspected of being security members or cooperating with security services, or being sentenced to death by religious courts.
The grave is part of many discoveries within the areas that were under the control of the extremist IS militant group.
In November, a UN report said more than 200 mass graves containing thousands of victims had been discovered in Iraqi areas previously controlled by the IS.
The mass grave sites are documented in the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahudin and Anbar in the northern and western parts of Iraq, according to the report.
In 2014, the IS militants captured vast swaths of Iraqi territory, including the country's second largest city of Mosul.
The militant group carried out "a campaign of widespread violence and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possible genocide," the report said.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraq declared full liberation of all areas once seized by the extremist group.
