341 and counting - Chemmani’s dead keep emerging as skeleton count rises

Excavation work at the Chemmani mass grave entered its 22nd day of the third phase on Thursday, during which two additional human skeletons were identified.

Meanwhile, nine skeletons, including the remains of a child, were fully exhumed from among those previously identified.

With the latest discoveries, a total of 341 human skeletons have been identified at the site. Of these, 327 skeletons have been excavated to date.

A cluster of human skeletal remains was also identified during Thursday's excavation. The cluster is the 23rd such concentration of human skeletal remains to be recorded since excavation work began at the site.

The excavation is being conducted as part of the third phase of investigations at the Chemmani mass grave.

The Chemmani mass grave remains one of the most significant mass grave investigations in the Tamil homeland. The site first drew international attention in the late 1990s after a Sri Lankan soldier alleged that hundreds of Tamils who disappeared during military operations in Jaffna had been buried there.

As excavations continue to uncover more skeletal remains, including those of children, the findings have renewed calls from families of the disappeared, Tamil political representatives and human rights advocates for international oversight and accountability for enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and wartime atrocities committed by Sri Lankan state forces in the North-East.

 

 

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