3RD LEAD (Update, Adds photos)

26 victims exhumed, mass grave reveals torture, executions at standing position

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 January 2014, 06:59 GMT]
Some of the victims slain in the mass grave at Thirukkeathessvaram in Mannaar have been shot after being ordered to stand up straight inside the bunkers, according to those who witnessed the excavation of the mass grave in Mannaar. Of the four more skeletons recovered on Friday, one skull was found covered by a camouflage cloth used by the SL military. Gunshot wounds were also found on two of the skulls recovered on Friday. There were also teeth of children among the remains recovered on Saturday. On Monday, a full skeleton of a 6-year-old child has been exhumed. 26 skeletons have been found till Monday noon. Several skeletons recovered so far also bore marks of torture, the sources told TamilNet Monday. The exhumation effort will continue, the reports said.



The victims were most probably innocent civilians who were trying to reach Mannaar through Naayaattu-ve’li during the Sri Lanka Army launched military operation Rana Gosha in 1999.

The Bishop of Mannaar and the Tamil National Alliance have called for international investigations on the massgrave at Thriukkeatheesvaran.

At least 240 people are reported missing between 1990 and 2009 in the nearby villages Paappaamoaddai, Ka’ndal, Pa’l’limunai, Ma’likaith-thidal, Theanudaiyaan and Veaddaiyaa-mu’rippu, the legal sources further said.



Chronology: