Iraqi soldiers unearth mass grave near Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Nov 30 (Reuters) Iraqi soldiers have found 28 bodies in a mass grave near the volatile city of Baquba, where dozens are killed every week in violence, the US military said in a statement today.

The statement gave no details of how they had died, whether they were all men or included women and children, or whether they were victims of a single incident.

It said the mass grave had been discovered yesterday south of Baquba, 65 km north of Baghdad, the capital of Diyala province that is dominated by Sunni insurgents, including al Qaeda Islamists.

The region has a mixed population of Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs as well as ethnic Kurds, earning it the nickname among US commanders of ''Little Iraq''.

Many Shi'ites have fled Baquba, turning some parts into a ghost town, while Sunnis have moved into the city from rural districts where Shi'ite militias, some apparently in league with the Iraqi army and police, have raided Sunni settlements.

''There is not a day that passes without dozens of people being killed either from bombs, shootings or assassinations,'' one senior policeman, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters recently.

''This has been going on for months.'' The US military said yesterday that its forces killed eight insurgents and two women in an early morning ground assault supported by an air strike on a village near Baquba.

Iraqi police said a US-Iraqi force killed eight civilians -- a man and his three sons and a neighbouring couple, their son and daughter.

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