Three blindfolded bodies found in northern Sri Lanka

Police today found the bodies of three blindfolded men with stab wounds on the side of a road in northern Sri Lanka.

The victims founded in northern Vavuniya district had not yet been identified, senior superintendent of police Jagath Abeysirigunawardena said.

It was not immediately clear whether the killings were linked to the continuing violence in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority north and east that threatens a four-year-old ceasefire.

Witnesses at the scene said the victims were blindfolded and their mouths plastered and that the bodies bore many stab wounds.

More than 150 people – mostly government security forces – have been killed in the past month in violence that government mostly blames on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels.

The rebels have countered with allegations that the military has targeted rebels and Tamil civilians.