Mass graves found in Anjar

The following courtesy of AFP:

The remains of more than 20 people who died several years ago were found in Lebanon Saturday, near what had been the headquarters and a prison of Syrian intelligence, police reported. Bones were found in three mass graves on a hillside opposite the facility in the ethnically Armenian village of Anjar, just three kilometres (two miles) from the Syrian border. They included human skulls and were found in 26 gunny sacks, which also contained underwear and the remains of one military uniform, an AFP photographer said.

An Anjar resident who requested anonymity told AFP that "prisoners who died in the Syrian mukhabarat (secret police) prison were buried on the hill." A statement from the Internal Security Forces (FSI) said a "forensic pathologist examined the remains, which have been put in bags that will be sent to laboratories for DNA testing in hopes of identifying them." It added that excavation work was continuing and that a judicial enquiry had been opened.

The official ANI news agency confirmed that graves had been discovered at the holy site, known as Al-Nabi Al-Ouzeir, but did not specify how many bodies had been found. Lebanese police enforced a security cordon around the burial site, although excavation teams could be seen continuing their work. A pathologist who visited the site said the remains dated from at least 12 years ago.

The fact that the remains were in bags and not buried according to any religious rites indicated the people may have been killed. The prison dates back to 1976, when Syrian troops first moved into Lebanon a year after the outbreak of its 15-year-long civil war. It was used as a transit point through which Lebanese detainees on their way to Syrian jails passed.