The Sri Lankan authorities say more than a-hundred security personnel, including policemen, are to face trial accused of human rights abuses.

It follows findings released last year by three government commissions looking into political killings and disappearances in the late 1980's.

Investigators found that more than sixteen-thousand people were killed, most of them from the majority Sinhalese community.

The authorities say the atrocities took place when the opposition United National Party was in power.

Correspondents say the prosecutions have been widely reported in the state media in advance of key local elections next month.