The mass graves are empty, IG Boinnet now says

The excavation of 15 sites alleged to contain mass graves yielded not a single body apart from the lady who had been reported missing.

"The entire Mandera County Security Committee members, accompanied by Governor Roba and Senator Billow Kerrow as well as several other local leaders including human rights activists and journalists, today 8th December 2015 witnessed the excavation of 15 sites alleged to contain mass graves and found not a single body apart from the lady who had been reported missing." This is the statement Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has released after the first day of the excavation exercise.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet. He says the excavation of the 15 mass graves yielded nothing except the one body of woman earlier reported missing. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

The political leaders were not satisfied, and demanded the use of a bulldozer to dig deeper into the sites.

The mass graves came under spotlight after reports alleged that 12 bodies had been discovered in a shallow grave on Sunday night.

One of the 12 bodies is said to be that of a woman who has been missing from her restaurant at Arabia trading centre since last Thursday, sparked fears of a return of extra-judicial killings in an area where police and military forces have been battling al Shabaab militants.