The bodies were found 30 kilometres north of the southern city of Basra, an official from the government's human rights agency told AFP.

'A mass grave of dozens of victims of the revolution in 1991 has been found,' said Emad Namah Yasser of the Human Rights Association in Basra, referring to the attempt to topple Saddam.

'It was discovered during oil exploration work,' Yasser said, although he could not specify the exact number of bodies found.

Millions of Shiite Muslims, encouraged by the United States, rose up against Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime after Iraqi forces were ousted from Kuwait by a US-led coalition.

But the then US president George Bush failed to provide military support to the rebels who were crushed within weeks by Saddam loyalists.

Falih Hannun, a resident of the al-Deer area where the grave was dug up who works for the South Oil Company responsible for exploration work now taking place, recounted the killings.

'Iraqi military forces transported the victims and buried them in the area,' he said of the murders 18 years ago, adding that he had not known the precise location of the bodies.

An AFP reporter at the scene said skeletons, some in military uniform, had been exposed at the grave. -- AFP