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Mystery bodies

revive grisly

memories of

Sinhalese in Lanka

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday they were still mystified about badly decomposed bodies of young males whose appearance in lakes and waterways close to the capital Colombo has revived chilling memories on the island.

"This is a still a mystery," Colombo Police Chief G.B. Kotakadeniya said. "The bodies could have been dumped with weights attached to keep them submerged for some time. And then they could come up."

More than 20 bodies have been found since May, most of them in Bolgoda Lake, south of Colombo, with some of the victims being starved and tortured before they were killed, police said.

Earlier this month, three badly decomposed bodies were fished out of the Diyawanna Oya, a lake surrounding Sri Lanka's parliament building near Colombo, bringing the number of bodies found there to five.

Police set up road blocks and intensified surveillance in and around the waterways where the bodies have been found, Kotakadeniya said.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's office said in a statement this week the government was "deeply concerned" about the unidentified bodies recovered from the parliament lake and several other places recently.

The appearance of the bodies has triggered grisly memories of a Sinhalese rebellion from 1988-90 in the south and centre of the country which was brutally crushed by the government.

Bodies dumped on roads or washed up on beaches were common sights during those days.-Reuter