Kosovo investigates second suspected mass grave

Kosovo authorities are investigating a potential second mass grave in the country's north, days after forensic teams found at least seven bodies at a suspected wartime burial site nearby.

Acting president Albulena Haxhiu said the possible burial site was found over the weekend and was also believed to hold victims of the 1990s Kosovo war. Police and prosecutors said they were seeking court permission to open the second dig site, about 10 kilometres from the current excavation, in the nearby village of Jabuka.

Excavation is continuing at the original site in the Zubin Potok area, where Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said officials believe as many as 23 people may be buried. Forensic teams confirmed on Saturday that the remains of seven people had been uncovered there.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti visited the first site on Saturday and said he believed those buried there had been "violently abducted, executed" in spring 1999. He earlier said he believed they were intellectuals from Mitrovica, including doctors, professors and human rights activists, who disappeared on April 19, 1999.

Prosecutors have not confirmed the identities of those killed or their connection to the Kosovo war, and said the process could take months. A prosecutor said police have also arrested three men from the local area in recent days on suspicion of war crimes.

The 1998-1999 war between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian armed forces killed about 13,000 people and left 4,000 missing. The remains of thousands have since been found, but 1,600 people are still missing.