(VOVworld) - Iraqi Kurdish forces and Shiite militants on Friday discovered mass graves containing 35 bodies after retaking the town of Sulaiman Bek from jihadists.

Iraqi Shiite fighters drive near the city of Udame on September 1, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

According to an Iraqi officer and a doctor, it was not clear when the shooting deaths took place, as the town north of Baghdad has fallen from government control several times this year, most recently from June until earlier this week. The 35 bodies were taken under guard in ambulances to the morgue in Kirkuk, a city to the north of Sulaiman Bek, for determining their identities. A Kurdish official said an area of bloodstained ground near the entrance to the town was apparently where the killings took place.

Militants led by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group launched a major offensive in June, overrunning chunks of five Iraqi provinces and sweeping security forces aside.

IS holds significant territory in neighboring Syria in addition to Iraq, and has declared a cross-border Islamic "caliphate" in which it has carried out atrocities that have shocked the world.