Five headless corpses found in Sri Lanka

Authorities in the island nation are investigating whether the deaths are linked to a recent upsurge in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Police found five headless corpses near the Sri Lankan capital on Thursday, a senior police officer said, and authorities were investigating if the deaths are linked to a recent upsurge in fighting with Tamil rebels.

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The corpses were found in Awissawella, a predominantly ethnic Sinhalese area about 35 kilometers east of Colombo in a rubber plantation, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Nevil Wijesinghe said.

"There is no way to identify the bodies, four are completely naked and one has only underwear," Wijesinghe said.

He said the five were killed somewhere else and the bodies were dumped at two separate places.

"We are investigating if the deaths are linked to the ethnic violence or (if) it is a gang war," he said.