United Nations investigators opened mass graves thought...

United Nations investigators opened mass graves thought to contain the remains of 18 East Timorese who were tortured and executed by pro-Indonesian militia. Officials said the victims were killed in two massacres about four months before the United Nations held a referendum on independence on August 30, 1999. Local people claimed they buried the bodies that had been dumped at the village by militia gangs. A spokesman for the UN human rights team carrying out the exhumations said the bodies were badly mutilated and showed signs of torture and execution.