Attack fears halt digging in Saddam's killing fields

Iraqi mass graves containing evidence of horrific atrocities that could help to convict Saddam Hussain of crimes against humanity are no longer being exhumed because of fear of attacks from former Baathists.

Groups of forensic archaeologists, including a team from Britain, have been forced to suspend their work because coalition forces could not guarantee their safety on dig sites.

The delays to the work mean that Saddam, who appeared in court for the first time last week, may not be confronted with the evidence of his regime's worst crimes at his future war crimes trial.

A coalition spokesman said: "A proper examination of any mass grave takes a minimum of around six weeks. The problem is the risk of ex-Baathists finding out that there are foreigners poking about, and bringing in snipers or lobbing in mortar rounds.

"These graves are in open areas and having security teams present can't stop that happening. Apart from wanting to kill foreigners, many ex-Baathists have a direct interest in preventing evidence being gathered from the mass graves as it may implicate them."

It is nearly 15 months since the discovery of Iraq's biggest mass grave near Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad. More than 2,000 locals were rounded up into a series of ready-dug pits and then machinegunned to death as part of the Baath party reprisals against the 1991 Shiite uprising that followed the first Gulf War.

Forensic experts have identified 260 suspected mass graves in Iraq. Some contain more than 1,000 bodies; others a dozen or fewer.

Although the total number of dead is now believed to be considerably less than initial estimates of 300,000, the graves still represent shocking proof of the atrocities committed under Saddam.

Groups of international forensic experts, who have also been training Iraqi counterparts, were due to begin formal exhumation work when April's joint Sunni and Shiite insurgency threw Iraq into chaos.

Since then there has also been increased targeting of Western civilians, making travel outside Baghdad extremely dangerous.

The British scientists from Inforce (the International Forensic Centre for the Investigation of Genocide, based at Bournemouth University) were working under contract for the Foreign Office until forced to pull out in April.

Failure to excavate the mass graves could remove an important lynchpin of the war crimes prosecutions against Saddam and his senior henchmen.

© The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2004