Sri Lanka in jungle deaths probe

A police investigation has begun in Sri Lanka after the discovery of 16 bodies in two unmarked graves.

The bodies were found at a remote jungle site in government-controlled territory in Anuradhapura district.

A military spokesman said the victims had been hacked to death, and blamed Tamil Tiger rebels.

Correspondents say unexplained killings have increased in Sri Lanka since fighting resumed between the government and the rebels two years ago.

Both sides have denied perpetrating human rights abuses.

The bodies were found on Thursday when a villager went into the jungle to round up cattle and saw freshly disturbed ground.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said a total of 16 bodies were later unearthed from two pits.

One of the bodies was female, the rest male. Some were found with their hands bound behind their backs.

Both the military and the Tamil Tiger rebels have been blamed for a rash of unexplained killings in the country in the past two years.

Spike in violence

The government has denied allegations from human rights groups that elements in the security forces have summarily executed those suspected of having links to the rebels.

The rebels, who are fighting for an independent state for the Tamil minority, have also been accused of abducting and killing civilians.

In August 2006, 17 aid workers were shot dead execution-style in the east of the country.

Norwegian ceasefire monitors blamed the military. The allegations were denied but investigations have failed to find any suspects.

The government has rejected calls for a United Nations human rights monitoring mission in the country.

Hostilities have heightened between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels over the past two years.

The government announced last week that it was formally withdrawing from a truce deal that rising violence had already effectively ended.

The Tigers control a swathe of territory in the north of the island and are determined to fight for an independent state.