Mass Grave Found Near Shiite City in Iraq’s South

BAGHDAD â€”  Maintenance workers digging up a sewage pipe have discovered a grave holding at least 20 bodies, including those of women and children, in a park less than a mile from the southern Shiite city of Karbala.

The bodies, found Monday, are believed to be those of people killed in the aftermath of a failed 1991 uprising against President Saddam Hussein.

Human rights experts say Hussein may have killed as many as 300,000 Iraqi Shiite Muslims after the uprising.

The former dictator is on trial in connection with the deaths of more than 140 Shiites after a 1982 attempt on his life in Dujayl, north of Baghdad.

The remains found near Karbala were sent for testing Tuesday in hopes of identifying the bodies, said Rahman Mashawy, a Karbala police spokesman.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of an American soldier and gave more details about two U.S. pilots who were killed Monday.

The soldier, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, died of gunshot wounds in combat Monday in Khalidiya, west of Baghdad. He was not identified.

The two U.S. military pilots were killed when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed Monday night in western Baghdad after colliding with another Apache, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday.

“There was no hostile fire involved,� the military said in a statement.

The twin-engine Apache, which carries a crew of two, is the U.S. Army’s primary attack helicopter.

The other Apache involved in the collision landed at a base in Taji, north of the capital, Pentagon officials said. The military said it was investigating the cause of the collision.