BAGHDAD, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The Iraqi army unearthed 80 decomposed bodies from four mass graves in northern Iraq's volatile Diyala province, a security source for the region said on Thursday. The mass graves were in two Shi'ite villages close to the provincial capital of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, an area where Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants once ruled and carried out mass sectarian killings against Shi'ites. The bodies were found over the last three days, and may have been buried there about a year ago, the security source said. Iraqi security forces regularly uncover mass graves, most of them from a sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007 that pushed Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war. Police found 30 bodies in another grave in Diyala on Saturday. (Writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Keith Weir)
A demonstrator slaps an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush with a sandal during a rally at Firdos square in Baghdad November 21, 2008. Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ...
