Baghdad - Iraqi forces found the bodies of 55 people allegedly killed and buried by al-Qaeda loyalists in a mass grave near the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, a police officer said Tuesday. A police force backed by tribal units made the discovery while conducting a search operation in al-Jazira west of Samarra, 120 kilometres north of Baghdad, Colonel Mamduh al-Bazi from the city police told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The bodies were of middle-aged men in plain-clothes, who seemed to have been hurriedly buried at different times.
During the operation, the forces freed two hostages from their captors, who fled the area.
The freed men told the police how they and the slain men were captured by gunmen, who then stole their money and other belongings.
The men were then killed after being told that the loot was to go to the Sunni extremist Islamic State of Iraq, which has links with the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
