Toys and bones: Mass grave revives war horrors

{ SRI LANKA

- Associated Press

A baby bottle, a squeaky toy, and a schoolbag are among items that have surfaced from a mass grave site in Sri Lanka’s formerly war-torn northern region, along with 141 human skeletons, including some that appear to be of children of different ages.

The findings were made at a cremation ground in the Chemmani area near Jaffna town, the cultural heartland of the country’s ethnic Tamil minority. But hardly any burials take place here, as Hindus mostly cremate their dead according to religious customs.

Excavations have been underway since June, after workers found human remains while digging to build an electric crematorium.

A pit test over nine days discovered 19 sets of human remains. Shallow burials of about 1.5 metres in a scattered and disorganised manner, and the absence of clothing, indicated the site was a mass grave, according to a report provided to a court in June.

Since the area was secured and declared a crime scene that month, a total of 141 skeletons have been discovered within a 165-square-metre area.

About 135 of the bodies had no clothing, and only one set of adult clothing was identified. Tests confirmed that a skeleton found with a schoolbag was that of a girl between four and six years old. Toddlers' dresses, socks and footwear, tiny bead bangles and a baby powder tray were also recovered.

The identities of the dead and the cause and timing of their deaths are all unclear. But many think the victims could be civilians who disappeared during Sri Lanka's civil war, which broke out in 1983 between government forces and ethnic Tamil rebels, who fought to create an independent homeland for the minority group. The war ended in 2009.