MASS GRAVES OF OVER 400 ISIS VICTIMS UNCOVERED BY IRAQI SOLDIERS IN IRAQ

WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: The horrific find was made following the recapture of Hawijah, a town that spent three agonising years under the control of ISIS militants

A regional official says at least 400 bodies have been found in mass graves.The mass graves containing at least 400 ISIS execution victims have been discovered in Iraq, it was revealed today.

The discoveries were made around the town of Hawijah, which spent three years under the brutal control of ISIS.

Some of the bodies were wearing prison uniform while others were still in their civilian clothes, according to reports.

Hawijah was liberated by the Iraqi army from the hands of ISIS in October as part of a

Western-backed offensive to claw back the territory gained by the jihadists in 2014.

Regional governor Rakan Said said the area around Hawijah "turned into an execution ground".

Hawija is 150 miles north of Baghdad and had been part of ISIS's caliphate for three years before its liberation.

And the true horrors of what occurred during the terrorist group's occupation are now being realised.

Saad Abbas, a farmer living the area, told AFP news agency that ISIS fighters could be seen "driving around in cars with their prisoners", often before being executed.

The Iraqi army said the mass graves were located with the help of locals who had witnesses the horrors of life under ISIS.