Nineteen mass graves containing 365 bodies of Islamic State (IS) militants were found in Iraq on Wednesday, officials said.
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The troops found the mass graves in al-Asri district in the town of Baiji, the northern central province of Salahudin, Xinhua cited froim a military statement statement.
The statement did not provide any other details.
Baiji and its nearby refinery – once the country’s largest but now extensively destroyed – has been the scene of nearly uninterrupted fighting in the past 16 months.
As for Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar, Iraqi forces succeeded in liberating a few militant-held areas and further tightening their siege around the city.
The Shiite militia also claimed that its forces were cleaning up roads in the area of ISIS landmines.
Colonel Steve Warren, who works in Baghdad for the US-led coalition conducting air strikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria, said Iraqi forces had progressed along several lines toward Ramadi and successfully repelled a string of IS counterattacks.
Baiji, located in Salahadin province and roughly 210 kilometers from Baghdad, fell to ISIS in 2014.
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The Iraqi military and popular forces have managed to expel the militants from a few key areas, including Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin Province, which was declared liberated at the end of March.
