Iraqi media on Sunday quoted Sheikh Naim al-Gaoud, the leader of Albu Nimr tribe, as saying that the grave was uncovered in the town of al-Qa’im, located nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad, near the border with Syria.
The bodies belonged to civilians as well as the workers of Iraqi interior and defense ministries, he said, adding that most of the victims had been decapitated.
ISIL terrorists have purportedly used the area as a collective burial site for civilians and security forces killed recently.
At least 14 mass graves have been discovered since the strategic city of Tikrit was liberated from the ISIL in late March, with Iraqi security sources saying that the mass graves contained the bodies of hundreds of Iraqi soldiers massacred by ISIL outside the northern city.
Tikrit had been seized by ISIL in June last year. The city’s recapture is crucial for the Iraqi army in its quest to take control of the country’s second largest city, Mosul.