Jan 23, Colombo: Sri Lanka will seek the assistance of experts, local and if necessary foreign, to determine the period of death of the skeletal remains unearthed at a mass grave in the Central Provincial town Matale.

Police Media Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prishantha Jayakody said that parts of 92 skeletons with skulls and 13 skeletons without skulls have been unearthed during excavations in the Matale hospital premises.

The spokesman said there are no clues yet as to when the people were buried or the cause of the deaths and the authorities will seek assistance of experts form local experts and if necessary foreign experts to determine the time period of the grave. The CID and the Matale police are conducting investigations in this connection, he added.

The excavations, commenced on November 23rd, are being carried out on an order by Matale Magistrate Chathurika de Silva and under the supervision of Consultant Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Ajith Jayasena.

The collective graveyard was found within the Matale Hospital premises when a backhoe was digging the area for a new construction.

Marxist party of Sri Lanka Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) believes the remains are of their activists killed during their failed insurrections, one in 1971 and the other in the period of 1987 -89.

JVP parliamentarian Vijitha Herath has called for a comprehensive probe into the mass grave to bring those responsible for the mass killings to justice.