The cost of conflict in Iraq

Iraqi troops unearth another mass grave north of Baghdad, and repatriate Iranian soldiers remains.

Decomposed bodies found in a mass grave in northern Iraq.

Finds like this are quite common - they date back to a sectarian conflict which took Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

At this time, Sunni al Qaeda militants were in control of a Shi'ite village here:

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAJOR MAR'I, SAYING:

"This man is handcuffed and blindfolded with a bullet in his head. This is not the first graveyard. Actually it is the fourth one. We unearthed 23 bodies and there are still other graveyards. We are searching orchards and we are finding mass graves."

More bodies date back to an earlier and much bigger conflict - the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

Iraqi authorities moved the remains of 41 Iranian soldiers to a crossing point, ready for a swap with Iran.

The Iranians are repatriating 200 Iraqi bodies.

The Iran-Iraq conflict left a million dead.

Benet Allen, Reuters