BAGHDAD, March 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Monday it had found a grave in northern Iraq containing the bodies of 14 executed people, believed to be either Iraqi police or members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood security unit.

The victims, discovered on Sunday in a grave south of Samarra, had their hands tied behind their backs and all had gunshot wounds to the head.

The U.S. military, which is carrying out offensives against al Qaeda in four provinces north of Baghdad, blamed the Sunni Islamist militants for the deaths.

Earlier this month, a grave containing 50 bodies was found in an area near Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad.

The bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in Samarra by suspected al Qaeda militants in February 2006 unleashed a wave of sectarian violence that pushed Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war. (Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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