Hundreds of bodies discovered in a warehouse in southern Iraq by British troops may be soldiers killed in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

The complex, found by a British artillery battery on Saturday, was initially thought to have been used to torture and execute opponents of Saddam Hussein's regime.

However, initial findings by investigators searching for evidence of Iraqi war crimes suggested the two tin sheds, which contained more than 200 bodies and stacks of coffins, were a repatriation complex for casualties of the conflict.
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But examinations of documents found at the site near Zubayr have determined that about 85 per cent of the corpses are Iraqi, and the rest Iranian, a senior criminal investigator with the American 75th Exploitation Task Force said. Chief Warrant Officer Dan Walters said investigators had discovered 408 sets of human remains and 664 crude wooden caskets. Examinations indicated the injuries on the bodies were war-related.
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The complex appeared to have small cell-like rooms with meat hooks and empty coffins stacked five or six high. There were a few single rows of coffins in which some human remains in crudely woven sacks had been placed.

Iran and Iraq have exchanged thousands of prisoners and remains of dead soldiers since the end of the war, which cost a million lives.

» Bodies in warehouse 'from Iran-Iraq war'