KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president palace says skulls and bones belonging to two bodies have been uncovered beneath a kitchen during renovation work on the palace grounds.

The gender, cause of death and identity of the skeletons are a mystery.

Tuesday's palace statement says the remains have been sent for forensic examination. It also says that a commission, including representatives of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and Physicians for Human Rights, has been set up to identify the bodies.

Afghanistan has had a long history of unearthing mass graves of unidentified victims of war, many linked to former warlords.

In 2002, around 2,000 bodies were found in a mass grave in northern Afghanistan, believed to be Taliban fighters killed after being taken prisoner during fighting that overturned their six-year regime.