It is the third such find by the army in recent months in territory formerly held by the militants west of their onetime bastion, NRT reported.

"In cooperation with specialists, an army unit came across a mass grave of civilians and combatants executed by the Islamic State in western parts of Raqqa province," state news agency SANA reported.

A member of the civil defense told the news agency that a total of 34 bodies had been exhumed from the grave near the town of Rathman.

The remains were transported to the military hospital in neighboring Aleppo province to be identified.

Government troops control the southwest of Raqqa province, but the rest of it, including the provincial capital, is held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who overran the militants’ infamous bastion in October.

In late December, Syrian troops found two mass graves in the west of the province. State media later reported that more than 150 bodies had been exhumed from them.

Reporter’s code: 50101