A wartime mass grave in Sri Lanka yields a baby bottle, children's clothes and 141 skeletons

CHEMMANI, Sri Lanka (AP) — A baby bottle, a squeaky toy and a schoolbag are among items that have surfaced from a mass grave site in Sri Lanka’s formerly war-torn northern region, along with 141 human skeletons including some that appear to be of children of different ages.

The findings were made at a cremation ground in the Chemmani area near Jaffna town, the cultural heartland of the country’s ethnic Tamil minority. But hardly any burials take place here, as Hindus mostly cremate their dead according to religious customs.

Excavations have been underway since June, after workers found human remains while digging to build an electric crematorium.

A pit test over nine days discovered 19 sets of human remains. Shallow burials of about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in a scattered and disorganized manner, and the absence of clothing, indicated the site was a mass grave, according to a report provided to a court in June.

Since the area was secured and declared a crime scene that month, a total of 141 skeletons have been discovered within a 165-square-meter (1,776-square-foot) area. About 135 of the bodies had no clothing, and only one set of adult clothing was identified. Tests confirmed that a skeleton found with a schoolbag was that of a girl between 4 and 6 years old. Toddlers’ dresses, socks and footwear, tiny bead bangles and a baby powder tray were also recovered.

The identities of the dead and the cause and timing of their deaths are all unclear. But many think the victims could be civilians who disappeared during Sri Lanka's civil war, which broke out in 1983 between government forces and ethnic Tamil rebels, who fought to create an independent homeland for the minority group. The war ended in 2009.

Several Tamil armed groups and an Indian peacekeeping mission were active in the region over the decades. But attention has focused on the Sri Lankan military, which had a heavy presence for over a decade in Chemmani, as the gateway to Jaffna town.

A confession made by an army soldier before he was sentenced to death for rape and murder 27 years ago has strengthened suspicions about the site.

In 1998, Somaratne Rajapakse along with four alleged accomplices from the military and police were sentenced to death for the gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl and the killing of her mother, brother and a neighbor.

The five, who weren’t hanged and remain in prison due to a moratorium on executions, have maintained that they were not involved in the rape and murder, but only disposed of the bodies under orders.

Rajapakse told the court that he knew where up to 400 bodies were buried in Chammani.

“We cannot say exactly who the perpetrators are yet, but the finger points to the (state) army,” said Brito Fernando, an activist working with the families of people who disappeared during various armed conflicts in Sri Lanka.

The area, including the cremation ground, were under Sri Lankan military control from 1996, when it captured Jaffna from the rebels, until after the war ended in 2009. The military operated checkpoints, and anyone who entered or left the area was searched.

In 1999, Rajapakse led police to a spot where the schoolgirl, her family and the neighbor were buried and later showed police other places where more remains were found. But the investigations were abruptly stopped.

Items found at the site were publicly displayed earlier this month in the hope that their owners would be identified, and many people from surrounding villages and beyond visited the site.

Amalanathan Mary Calista, whose husband has been missing since 1996 when the military arrested him in their village, said she hoped seeing proof that her husband was dead would bring a sense of closure.

“I went there hoping to see at least his clothes. There was a sarong (clothing that wraps around the waist) but it wasn’t my husband’s. He was wearing a blue sarong at the time. It was disappointing,” she said.

“I only saw the clothing of little children,” she added, as she wept.

She said her husband is among 24 people who never returned home after the military searched their village. Families had tried to block the army vehicles from taking away the detained people, but the authorities pushed them aside with guns and the vehicles sped away, she said.

“My wish is that he should be alive and return, but we can do nothing if it is not so," she said.

“The state army arrested him. They must say that they arrested him and that he died at their hands. They also must pay us compensation,” she said.

Sivanathan Selvamalar said she watched her younger brother being loaded into a military truck blindfolded during that same raid. Years later, in 2009, her husband was also detained at a checkpoint. He called her to tell her of his arrest and was not heard from again.

“We went to see the things, thinking they may have buried people who were arrested around this area, but we saw only the things of little children,” she said.

“We have checked all the prisons but have not found them. When we are told that more than 100 skeletons have been dug out, we fear the worst," she added.

A 2003 report by Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission said it investigated 281 complaints of missing persons from 1990 to 1998. Of these, three were found in prisons and later released, while the rest are still unaccounted for. The report said the military was responsible for 243 cases, while the Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible for 25. The responsibility for 10 others is unknown.

No children were listed as missing.

Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, the editor of the only newspaper in the region at the time, said several families returned to Jaffna after fleeing into rebel-held territory as the military moved in. Some reportedly went missing after being stopped at checkpoints set up to look for infiltrating rebels, he said.

Although previous investigations stalled, there is hope now that victims will be identified, Fernando said. But he said the government must do more to conduct a credible investigation.

“We don’t have proper guidelines to investigate the mass graves and have no DNA bank to help with identification,” said Fernando, adding that the government should fund a DNA bank and enlist international support in the identification of victims.

“Only a proper investigation by the government can free its military from suspicion,” he said.

Any direct probe into the military would likely anger Sri Lankan nationalists. Many of the majority ethnic Sinhalese admire the military for winning the civil war.

Ground-penetrating radar in other parts of the cremation ground has shown “soil anomalies … that are indicative of comparable density of buried skeletal remains,” according to a report submitted in the Jaffna court last week.

The scanned area is three times larger than the site that has been excavated, said Ranitha Gnanarajah, a lawyer monitoring the process. Investigators have requested court approval to continue excavations for eight more weeks, she said.

Army spokesman Brig. Waruna Gamage said no one has formally accused the army of responsibility for the mass grave, and if they did they would need to show proof, he said.

“The excavations are still ongoing and it is a civil matter belonging to the police and courts," Gamage said. “We will respect the law of the country."

Government forces and the rebels are both accused of committing atrocities amounting to war crimes in the months leading to the end of the civil war in 2009.

Wedding photos of Sri Lankan ethnic Tamils Sanmugam Satkunarasa and Ranjanidevi are placed next to a certificate issued by the government declaring the husband missing, at their home in Manippai, Sri Lanka, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A number identifies a human skeleton exhumed from a mass grave in Chemmani, Sri Lanka, Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Magistrate Amalavalan Anandarajah, center, inspects a mass grave site in Chemmani, Sri Lanka, Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

An exhumed human skeleton is seen with a school bag at the site of a mass grave in Chemmani, Sri Lanka, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Kanapathipillai Kumanan)

Senthilvel Sothiladchumi, an ethnic Sri Lankan Tamil, center, whose son went missing during the Sri Lankan civil war, cries as she leaves the site of a mass grave where authorities exhibited unearthed belongings in an effort to secure the identities of the victims, in Chemmani, Sri Lanka, Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.

“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”

Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.

Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.

“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.

Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”

He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.

Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”

A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.

“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”

Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.

China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.

China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.

Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.

Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)