Saddam-Era Mass Grave Found in Iraq

An Iraqi official says authorities believe they have found another mass grave from Saddam Hussein's regime in southern Iraq.

The director of the local human rights commission, Mahdi al-Timimi, says local villagers found two skulls, bones and old clothes in the oil-rich Nahran Omar area northeast of Basra.

He told reporters Wednesday that excavation for more remains will start the following day.

Several Saddam-era mass graves have been unearthed since the dictator was ousted following the 2003 U.S. invasion.

The latest discovery has caused a temporary halt to oil exploration in the section being excavated.

The victims are believed to have been killed in 1991, when Saddam's forces brutally crushed a Shiite uprising following the Gulf War.