Iraqi officials say 27 bodies have been found in two separate mass graves.
A senior police official says 18 have been unearthed south of Baghdad near the former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold of Arab Jabour.
The official says the victims include two women and a boy and are believed to have been hanged more than two years ago.
Police and hospital officials say the remains of nine other people have been discovered near the northern city of Tal Afar.
They say a detained Sunni insurgent confessed to helping murder nine Shiite civilians about two years ago and revealed the grave's location.
The officials announced Saturday's grisly discoveries on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
