Rebel in Sri Lankan police custody reveals massacre in war

A former Tamil Tiger rebel who is in the custody of the Sri Lankan police Terrorist Investigations Division (TID) has made a startling revelation of how the rebels slew more than 80 captives including a policeman and a soldier, the police said on Sunday. The police said that the former Tamil Tiger rebel alleged that during the war the rebels had murdered more than 80 people including a TID officer and an army captain who were held at a rebel run prison. A police statement said that the rebel has also revealed the location where the victims were burnt after being killed and this has been confirmed by three other rebels who are in police custody. The rebel said that the 80 people had been detained at a prison in Pudukuduirippu in the north, which was once under rebel control. According to the rebel, 30 of them were taken to a jungle in a truck in May 2006 and were killed while 50 others were taken in a truck and a bus also to a jungle in July 2006 and slain. The policeman was believed to have been taken to a jungle and murdered in September of 2006 and his body was burnt while the army captain was murdered in 2009. The police said that a Magisterial inquiry will be conducted on the victims and the location where the bodies were believed to have been burnt. The Tamil Tigers were defeated in May 2009 after 30 years of war against the government, while both the government and the rebels have been accused of committing war crimes in the war that claimed thousands of lives.