The Sri Lankan government ruled out the possibility that its soldiers could have been involved in the killing of those found in the grave, saying the Mannar area had long been a Tamil rebel stronghold.
“With regard to the recovery of skeletal remains in Mannar it has been revealed that the area had been occupied by the LTTE for 30 years except during the period 1988/89 when it was occupied by the Indian Peace Keeping Force. Till the area was liberated in 2008 it was not under the control of the government of Sri Lanka,” an official statement said.
The mass grave figured in the government's response to UN Human Rights chief Navy Pillay's report on Sri Lanka which is expected to be submitted at the UN Human Rights Council's session next month.
The report is being seen as a preamble to the next US-backed resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged rights abuses.
Another mass grave found in the central district of Matale is also being investigated.
The opposition JVP or the People's Liberation Front has claimed that the bodies were of its cadres who were allegedly executed during a crackdown by the state during 1987-90.
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