Tamil Tigers executed and burnt Sri Lankan soldiers taken as prisoners of war

Excavations of the mass grave in Kilinochchi where the bodies of 26 Sri Lankan soldiers executed by the LTTE are reported to have been buried believed to have been buried, have been completed, the police said.

The mass grave is believed to be of 26 soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war by the vanquished terrorist group and kept for years before they were executed when the military forces were approaching the Tiger territory last year.

The police yesterday said some human bones along with powdery residues believed to be of ashes and bullets have been recovered from the grave.

According to four LTTE suspects who were allegedly involved in the killing and are in custody now, the soldiers had been imprisoned at the Victor Base Prison at Vallipuram in Mullaitivu for more than three years.

Authorities have launched the Investigations based on the information received from the suspects and the Police Terrorist Monitoring Unit excavated the mass grave under the supervision of the Mullaitivu Additional Magistrate M. Iman.

Seven judicial medical officers, geologists, and archaeologists have observed the excavation and the Survey General's Department had surveyed the area.

The LTTE suspects had told the authorities that 8 Army soldiers and 18 naval ratings had been tortured from 2006 in a torture chamber at a location 10 kilometers away from the Mullaitivu highway. When the security forces were approaching, the fleeing Tigers have executed the prisoners of war on 6th January 2009 and burnt their bodies in the mass grave.

The authorities are conducting further investigations to identify. Bone fragments and ash from the site have been sent to the Government Analyst department for further forensic tests, police said. the remains.