Story highlights A total of 47 bodies have been exhumed from two mass graves

Iraqis find mass graves inside presidential palace compound in Tikrit

ISIS claimed to have executed 1,700 Iraqi soldiers captured outside Camp Speicher

Tikrit, Iraq (CNN) Mass graves believed to hold Iraqi soldiers have been discovered in newly liberated Tikrit.

Up to 1,700 bodies may be recovered. ISIS claimed to have executed that many soldiers captured in June outside Camp Speicher, a fortified Iraqi base near Tikrit.

A total of 47 bodies have been exhumed from two of the 11 mass graves discovered in Tikrit, an Iraqi government official said Tuesday. Hundreds are believed to have been executed by ISIS in June 2014

Grieving Iraqis, apparently not related to the soldiers, gathered to pray over the bodies. When the first three bodies were found, 10 Iraqi soldiers saluted the dead by firing seven shots into the air. The national anthem was played while soldiers wept.

All the bodies were decomposed. Some had their hands bound, Damon said. The remains will be sent back to Baghdad for DNA tests to establish identify, said Ali Tahir, a director in the Iraqi morgue who was supervising the digging and extraction.