Mass graves associated with the Sri Lankan Civil War

Multiple documented mass graves sites are linked to the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection and the Sri Lankan civil war. The mass graves contain remains of those believed to have been killed or disappeared during those political conflicts. To this day they remain a central issue regarding war crimes, enforced disappearances, and accountability. Several sites like Chemmani and Mannar, regained public and international attention as they were rediscovered and reopened during the 2010s and 2020s. This brought new interest of archaeological investigations, judicial inquiries, and international human rights organizations. Discoveries in 2025 increased public demand for independent investigations under international supervision.

Mass graves in Sri Lanka are connected to two main events, the second JVP uprising (1987–1989) and the civil war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).^[1][2] During these two conflicts involved extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. During the 26 year civil war, there were heavy civilian losses and disappearance of tens of thousands of people, most of them Tamils from the north and east.^[2][3] But not only there, the government's counterinsurgency campaign against the Marxist–Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna^[4] in the south produced widespread abductions and summary executions of Sinhalese youths.^[1][2] Throughout the conflicts, there were many reports of killings, secret detention centers, and military-controlled zones where civilians were last seen. Many of these places eventually later suspected of being site of mass grave.^[5][6][7]

Dozens of such locations have been recorded across the country, especially in the northern and eastern regions affected by the civil war, and in southern and central areas targeted by counterinsurgency operations.^[8] Both the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been accused of abuses. As the conflict progressed, reports emerged of civilians and combatants who disappeared in custody or during military operations.^[1][9] Some of these cases later became associated with the discovery of unmarked or concealed graves. Most notable are the mass graves reported in Chemmani and Mannar, Sooriyakanda and Matale.^[8][10][11]

In the northern area of Chemmani in Sri Lanka many people went missing during the civil war. The claims of mass graves there were first made following the allegation of a Sri Lankan soldier, Somaratne Rajapakse, in 1998 who was on trial for the rape and murder of Tamil schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy.^[12][13] He claimed that hundreds of people who disappeared from the Jaffna peninsula after it was retaken by the government forces from the LTTE rebels in 1995 and 1996 were killed and buried in mass graves near the village of Chemmani.^[14] He further claimed he knew where 300 to 400 bodies were buried.^{[14][15][16][13]}

Recent digs have uncovered hundreds of skeletons, including women and children, supporting claims that security forces secretly killed people when the army took back Jaffna.^[17] These findings have renewed calls for proper investigations and international oversight, since the government has a poor history of handling such cases.^[7] Families of the missing, who have waited many years for answers, are now dealing with new pain but also a small hope that the truth may finally come out.^[17][1]

Mannar located in northwest Sri Lanka, has several mass graves, with the first one discovered in 2013, as 11 skeletons were unearthed.^[18][19] In 2018, another mass grave was discovered in the Tamil dominated town and 346 skeletons were unearthed, 29 being those of children, making it the largest mass grave in the country.^[20] There has been controversy over the dates of this mass grave, with the lead archeologist and other sources challenging a carbon dating suggesting the remains were over 500 years old; they contended the artifacts recovered from the site suggested the remains were within 30 years old. The discovery received attention in relation to those who had gone missing during the Sri Lankan civil war.^[20]

The Sooriyakanda mass grave in Sri Lanka contains the remains of schoolchildren abducted and killed during the government's brutal counterinsurgency against the JVP uprising of the late 1980s.^[21] Around 32 to 36 students from Embilipitiya Maha Vidyalaya were seized by a UNP aligned school principal and army personnel, tortured in makeshift camps, and executed as part of a wider crackdown that claimed tens of thousands of mostly Sinhalese youth.^[22] After international pressure, excavations began in 1994 and revealed numerous skeletal remains, though the investigation was widely condemned as inadequate due to weak forensic procedures, emergency laws shielding perpetrators, and the broader climate of state impunity noted by observers such as Neelan Thiruchelvam.^[23][24]

The Matale mass grave was discovered in 2012 at the Matale Base Hospital site, with more than 150 bodies, later determined by forensic experts to date from 1986 to 1990 and unrelated to disease or natural causes, suggesting extrajudicial killings during the Sri Lankan Army's counterinsurgency against the second JVP uprising.^[25][26][10] The uprising, triggered by opposition to the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord and the presence of the IPKF, was violently suppressed, with Matale being a hotspot where Gotabhaya Rajapaksa served as the Army's commanding officer in 1989.^[17] Although the government announced a presidential commission to investigate, its effectiveness has been widely doubted due to the poor track record of past commissions and the continued influence of key officials who held power in Matale at the time.^[27][26][28]

The Duraiappah Stadium mass grave, was uncovered in 1999 while renovation works in were being made. The work revealed 25 human skeletons that included those of children, one of them with his hands bound together, indicating violent deaths linked that were linked to the region's civil conflict.^[29][30] Because Jaffna shifted among LTTE, IPKF, and Sri Lankan military control, responsibility for the killings remains unclear. Investigations were widely criticized for poor forensic procedures, lack of transparency, and failure to collect information from families of the disappeared, leaving the victims unidentified and their relatives without answers.^[31][32]

In 2023, excavations in Kokkuthoduvai unearthed dozens of skeleton remains. Initial assessments suggested a possible connection to the conflict period of the late 1980s and 1990s, although forensic dating and identification efforts are ongoing. The area formerly hosted military checkpoints and saw intense displacement.^[33][34]

Several graves discovered in the Eastern Province, including areas near Kalavanchikudy and Sathurukondan, have been linked to alleged extrajudicial killings during the 1990s. Documentation of these incidents has been fragmented, and many investigations were affected by inadequate forensic resources and political sensitivities.^[35][36]

The mass graves linked to the Sri Lankan Civil War have been extensively documented by Amnesty International, mainly the sites in Chemmani, Jaffna, where new excavations that began during May 2025, unearthed hundreds of skeletons, raising again allegations of enforced disappearances by security forces. According to the organization estimations about 60,000-100,000 people were forcibly disappeared during the conflict, with most attributed to state actors and paramilitaries targeting Tamil civilians.^{[1][37][38][39]}

Sri Lanka has signed several international treaties that ban extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances. It has also passed its own laws making enforced disappearance a crime. However, legal and forensic experts say the country still does not have strong procedures for digging up and investigating mass graves. Important steps, such as protecting evidence, keeping a clear record of who handles it, and involving victims’ families, are still weak.^[11][40][41]

Mass grave excavations are usually carried out under the supervision of a magistrate, with state pathologists and archaeologists taking part. But human rights groups say that political pressure, limited funding and a lack of specialized forensic skills have made it difficult to conduct proper investigations and bring cases to court.^[3][40]

• Sri Lankan Civil War
• Human rights in Sri Lanka
• Mass grave at Chemmani
• Mass grave at Sooriyakanda
• Chemmani mass graves investigation