Sri Lanka police find five bodies

COLOMBO, Mar 3 (Reuters) Sri Lankan police found five bodies today dumped near the capital Colombo and suspect they are victims in a renewed civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The bodies, found in a marsh at Kandana, 15 km north of Colombo, were too badly decomposed to be identified, police said.

Jeevahastha Sirisena of the Pamunugama police said two of the dead had been blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs.

Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission says there have been reports of nearly 100 abductions and disappearances this year in Colombo, the eastern district of Batticaloa and the besieged Jaffna peninsula, which is guarded by more than 40,000 troops.

Some 1,000 cases were reported in 2006 as a two-decade civil war resumed.

REUTERS SY KP2023