Sri Lanka Begins Excavating Alleged Mass Grave

Workers began digging Wednesday at a suspected site of a mass grave thought to hold the remains of nearly 300 minority Tamils who disappeared while in military custody three years ago.

Relatives of the missing people watched the excavation together with five Western observers, including a representative from Amnesty International.

The Sri Lankan government ordered the digging after a soldier convicted last year of the rape and murder of a Tamil family told judges that he had helped bury the victims of other soldiers.

The convicted soldier, Lance Cpl. Somaratne Rajapakse, was brought in handcuffs to the excavation site. Raising his right hand, he pointed out spots where he claimed to have helped bury the bodies.

More than 58,000 people have been killed in fighting between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam since 1983. The rebels have been fighting to establish a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese of widespread discrimination in education and jobs.

The rebels seized the Jaffna peninsula at the island nation’s northern tip in 1990 and proclaimed a government for more than 1 million people, mostly Tamils, living in the northern region.

The army recaptured the area in 1996 after a 50-day offensive, and about 600 Tamils disappeared while in custody. The army has been in control of the area since, but intermittent rebel attacks continue.

Amnesty International had accused the government of stalling the digging, but the government blamed delays on floods and difficulty in finding specialists.

Investigators said that, during two hours of digging Wednesday, workers found part of a human body--a man’s knee.