London, May 10: A UN probe in Ivory Coast has stated that 68 bodies were found spread out across 10 burial mounds in a mass grave recently discovered on a soccer field in Abidjan.
Guillaume Ngefa, the deputy director of the human rights division of the UN mission in Ivory Coast, announced Monday the victims were likely killed by pro-Laurent Gbagbo militias on April 12, the day after the strongman was arrested, AP reported.
Ngefa said in a telephone interview that investigators visited the site Friday and photographed the 10 plots. They interviewed witnesses that described the killings as well as family members who identified the dead.
Ngefa said the investigators also spoke to two residents of the Yopougon neighborhood, where the incident occurred, that were conscripted by the militiamen and forced to bury the dead.
Yopougon, where the soccer field is located, is believed to be where Gbagbo’s militias took cover after their leader’s downfall.
———Agencies