"31 remains were found under Chim bridge, in Duy Xuyen district last Friday when a group of construction workers were digging the abutment to rebuild the bridge," a local official said.

"We have the documents and the witnesses to believe that they were communist soldiers who were killed between 1954 and 1959 under the campaign to repress and arrest communist guerillas conducted by Ngo Dinh Diem's regime," local officials said.

The bodies were reburied in the Martyrs Cemetery in Duy Trung village on Monday in anonymous graves.

Authorities in Duy Xuyen district said they believed that among the 31 were 24 local communist officials who were reported missing during that period, although no forensic work has been done to identify the dead.

SPACE.WIRE