230 skeletons found at Sri Lanka’s largest mass grave site

More than 230 skeletons have now been found at a grave in the former war zone in Sri Lanka, up from about 90 in August. Human rights groups say at least 20,000 people disappeared during Sri Lanka’s long civil war which ended in 2009. The 26-year war between troops and separatist Tamil rebels left at least 100,000 people dead. A court ordered detailed excavations at the site – a former co-operative depot near the main bus terminus – after human remains were found by workers digging foundations for a new building earlier this year.It is still not clear who the victims were or how they died. The town of Mannar is dominated by ethnic minority Tamils and hundreds of people from the region went missing during the decades-long conflict between Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. While Mannar town remained mostly under army control during the civil war, Tamil Tiger rebels dominated its surrounding areas and many other parts of the district. The military captured the entire district after ferocious battles which ended almost 10 years ago. “We have excavated more than 230 skeletons so far,” said Professor Raj Somadeva, a forensic archaeologist from the University of Kelaniya near Colombo who leads the team at the site. “According to my experience this is the largest mass grave ever excavated.”