The Jakarta Post quoted Munir, a member of the Commission for the Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, as saying that the remains were recovered from Oeluli beach of Kobalima district, three km from the East Timor border.

Munir said the bodies were buried one-and-a-half metres deep in three closely located graves, adding that some of the bodies could still be identified.

"We have got information on these mass graves from witnesses we interviewed during our first visit here in October," Munir was quoted as saying.

The witnesses revealed that the victims were killed during an attack on a church in Suai by pro-Jakarta militia, backed by Indonesian military, on September 6. The witnesses said the bodies were thentransported to their current location about 20 km southwest from Suai.

"We found three bodies in the first grave, eleven in the second and eleven in the third," Munir said, adding that he identified the bodies in the first grave as three Catholic priests.

Chairman of the Commission Albert Hasibuan said early this week that it will soon summon the country's military top brass for their alleged collusion in an orgy of murder, rape and arson in East Timor.

Military-backed militias went on an unchecked rampage across East Timor in the wake of the August 30 UN-run independence vote. The rampage destroyed many towns and forced half the territory's 8,00,000 people to flee.

"We have performed autopsies on the bodies: one of them died of gunshot wounds and the other two died of knife wounds," the Post

quoted Munir as saying.

Munir, who is on a three-day fact-finding mission with committee member H S Dillon and a six-member forensic team, said Thursday's exhumation was witnessed by local police chiefand officials.

"The bodies were then taken to Atambua hospital for further examination," he said. He said that forensic experts will bring hair tissue and other evidence to Jakarta for further examination.