Mass grave with 153 bodies found in northern Iraq

Baghdad (CNN) -- Security forces in northern Iraq found a mass grave containing scores of people killed during the height of sectarian violence last decade, police told CNN on Saturday.

At least 153 bodies were discovered in Buhriz, just south of Baquba in Diyala province -- a region north and east of Baghdad that endured waves of violence during the Iraqi war.

Baquba police Lt. Col. Ghalib Atiya al-Jabouri said the victims included civilians, police and soldiers slain during the height of sectarian violence between 2005 and 2008. Iraq had been engulfed by fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Buhriz, he said, had been controlled by al Qaeda in Iraq between 2006 and 2008. Some victims were blindfolded and others had their hands tied behind their backs, signs of al Qaeda in Iraq activity.

The Iraqi Red Crescent has registered thousands of missing persons in Iraq since just after the war started.