Sri Lankan authorities will dig up the site of a suspected mass grave in eastern province over claims that it contains the bodies of over 100 Muslims allegedly killed by Tamil rebels 24 years ago.
“In April a Kathankudi resident had lodged a complaint about a mass grave site in the Kaluwanchikudy area. He asked the police to investigate the murders of around 100 Muslims by the LTTE in 1990,” police spokesman and Superintendent Ajith Rohana said.
According to the complaint, the bodies of nearly 100 Muslims killed by the Tigers are buried there.
“The site will be exhumed on July 1,” police said adding that security has been tightened in the area.
The move comes amid criticism of Sri Lankan authorities over recent attacks against Muslims carried out by Buddhist hardliners. At least four Muslims were killed in the riots.
The LTTE during their 30-year-old military campaign in the north and east regions are accused of ethnic cleansing of the regions by chasing out Muslims from the areas which they called the Tamil homeland.
The Muslims who were chased out by the LTTE lived in other parts of the country.
Muslims account for about 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million population who are mainly Buddhists.
