Thousands of Monks Killed by Stalin
A mass grave containing the bodies of thousands of Buddhist monks killed on the orders of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has been discovered in western Mongolia, British television reported Tuesday.
The grave near the western town of Moron was filled with the remains of monks killed in a brutal suppression of the Lamaist faith under Communist rule, the British Broadcasting Corporation said.
Official figures show that about 700 monasteries were destroyed and 17,000 monks killed under the Communists.
An 83-year-old man interviewed by the BBC said he was the chief of a squad that carried out executions on behalf of the Mongolian Communists and their patron, Stalin.
Ish Teren said thousands of monks were herded into trucks by the security forces and shot in the head. The BBC, which said a team of its journalists had found the grave, broadcast pictures of skulls with bullet holes.
The reformist Mongolian government is investigating the killings and trying to uncover graves.
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