Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    RAMADI, Iraq, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi police and anti-Qaida fighters have discovered some 40 corpses buried in a mass grave in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said on Sunday.

    "A joint force from Iraqi police and the Anbar's Awakening Council fighters found remains of some 40 bodies in the Tharthar area, west of Ramadi City during a search operations in a village," a source from the provincial anti-Qaida Awakening council told Xinhua.

    The area where the mass grave found has long been under control by the al-Qaida terrorist network, the source said, adding that the security forces believe the victims were previously kidnapped and killed by the al-Qaida fighters.

    The security forces also found dozens of civilian cars in a scrap yard, which the forces believe have been previously seized byal-Qaida militants, the source said.

    Iraqis in Anbar and other cities have joined the U.S. and Iraqi government backed Awakening Councils to fight al-Qaida's militants, because of the al-Qaida's adherence to a hardline form of Islam and indiscriminate killings.