Excavations at the suspected mass grave near the Chemmani-Siththupaththi cemetery in Jaffna have uncovered skeletal remains linked to 260 individuals, officials said on Friday, with 256 sets fully exhumed.
The current phase entered its 11th day on May 8, during which remains linked to three additional bodies were discovered. Two of those bodies have been fully exhumed. A total of 17 human skeletal remains have been identified during this phase to date, Newswire reported.
Earlier in the week, attorney V.K. Niranjan, who represents the families of the missing, said the count stood at 245 — adding 15 sets in the four days since. The dig began on April 27 under the supervision of Jaffna Magistrate S. Lenin Kumar.
The previous phase ended on September 6, 2025, with skeletal remains of 240 people identified and 239 sets recovered. The current dig was initiated on the basis of new scan-report findings at the site, officials said.
The excavation team includes Senior Professor Raj Somadeva of the University of Kelaniya’s Department of Archaeology and forensic specialist Dr Selliah Pirunavan of the University of Jaffna. Recovered skeletal remains and artefacts are being held by the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Jaffna, under court orders.
Chemmani is one of Sri Lanka’s most prominent post-war reconciliation sites — a suspected mass grave linked to the army’s occupation of Jaffna in the mid-1990s. The site is among several being examined under the country’s Office on Missing Persons framework for war-era disappearances; an OMP-supervised dig at Kurukkalmadam in Batticaloa earlier this year yielded no remains.
