On Wednesday, Jaffna Medical Officer Dr Sri Rajeswaran, in the presence of the district magistrate, S A Ekanathan, exhumed three human skeletons intact from the Alfred Duriappah Stadium near Jaffna Fort.

According to reports, one of the skeletons dug out from the stadium grounds on Wednesday had its hands positioned as if they had been tied behind. One skeleton was identified as that of a woman from the bracelets found around the wrists.

All three skeletons, dug out from five feet under the ground, were intact but disintegrated when the exhumers attempted to pack them in polythene bags. Two of the skeletons were found on top of each other, while the third was buried on the side.

Digging will continue on Thursday as more skeletons are expected tobe found. This grave is different from the one alleged by a Sri Lankan soldier at Chemmani, outside Jaffna town, for which the district court has fixed June 16 as the exhumation date.

The skeletons at the Duriappah stadium were found two weeks ago by labourers digging a pit latrine. They came across bones, which they first thought were that of animals but later realised that it belonged to humans.

The police was called in to seal the area till the exhumation work could begin under magisterial supervision on Wednesday. The bones will be sent to Colombo for forensic examination and dating.

From the bones' condition, the exhumers have tentatively said the skeletons could be between two and 10 years old.

"The Judicial Medical Officer suggested that it could be 10 years old. People here believe that these bodies could have been buried during the IPKF period because of the proximity of the pit to the Jaffna Fort. But without proper verification we cannot say anything for sure because Jaffna Fort wasoccupied at various times by the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan army, the police and the Indian Army," said N Vithyatharan, editor of the Jaffna Tamil daily Uthayan

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Last month, a commission headed by attorney-at-law Manouri Muttetuwegama on disappearances was set up by President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Government to probe disappearances in the north-east between 1985 and 1995. The commission heard at least seven complaints of missing persons relating to the period when the IPKF was deployed in the region from 1987 to 1990.

The commission held sittings in Jaffna, Point Pedro and Kayts for 11 days beginning March 14 and recorded statements in about 160 missing persons cases.

Another complaint alleging the Indian Army's hand in the disappearance of a Tamil civilian from Jaffna was made last month to a mobile service of the Justice Ministry which looks into problems of Colombo's Tamil community.