Mannar mass graves toll rises: 80 bodies unearthed
Wednesday, 26 February 2014 00:06
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Eighty skeletal remains have been unearthed in a suspected mass grave in Mannar, after excavations resumed on Monday, officials said.
Judicial Medical Office Dhananjaya Waidyaratne said 80 remains had been found and boxed at the site in the former conflict zone.
The latest mass grave was discovered by constructions workers in Thirukatheeswaram in the Mannar District in December last year.
Excavators have unearthed the remains of women and children at the site. Teams of forensic pathologists continue their excavations at the site.
The discovery was the first of its kind in the Northern Province after the war ended in 2009.
While the TNA believes that the remains could be Tamils from the area, the Government in its official response to a report by the UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay yesterday, said the area had never been under the control of Government forces until it was liberated in 2008.
“The area had been occupied by the LTTE for 30 years except for the period 1988/89 when it was occupied by the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF),” the Government statement said, issuing a double whammy.
