US finds 35 bodies in mass grave in Iraq's Anbar

BAGHDAD, June 30 (Reuters) The US military said today it had uncovered 35 to 40 bodies in a mass grave south of Falluja, in Iraq's Sunni dominated Anbar province.

A Falluja hospital source said 35 bodies had been retrieved and were being finger-printed to establish their identity.

The military said the killings were relatively recent and the bodies had been bound and bore gunshot wounds.

The mass grave was found late yesterday near a place called Ferris, roughly 35 km south of the city of Falluja, after a tip-off from a local, it said.

The site was cordoned off for closer examination, the military said.

Anbar province to the west of Baghdad was hotbed of the anti-American Sunni insurgency. But it has become much calmer in recent months after local tribes turned against al Qaeda militants operating on their turf.

Reuters SBC GC1835