WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Vietnam finds mass graves of communist soldiers
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-24 14:12

HANOI, Vietnam: Authorities in central Vietnam have found two mass graves containing the remains of 16 communist soldiers killed during the Vietnam War, an official said Monday.

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The remains of 12 bodies were recovered last week with personal effects such as rubber sandals, shoes, hammocks and ammunition in the courtyard of a residence in the town of Quang Tri, in Quang Tri province, said Tran Cong Kha, a member of the local People's Committee.

Another mass grave containing the remains of four communist soldiers was found outside a house just 35 feet (20 meters) away, he said.

Only one set of remains was identified, Kha said.

Authorities believe the soldiers were killed during an 81-day battle for the Quang Tri citadel in 1972, in which more than 10,000 communist soldiers died, he said.

Quang Tri, a central province 370 miles (600 kilometers) south of Hanoi, saw fierce fighting during the war.

An estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war, which ended in 1975, when communist North Vietnamese forces overran Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam and what is now Ho Chi Minh City.