DO DONTREI, Cambodia (AP) — More than 100 people have attended a Buddhist ceremony honoring the dead in a freshly uncovered Khmer Rouge mass grave in rural Cambodia. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. Village chief Chheng Theng said the offerings were meant to give sustenance to the souls of the dead "because we know they died hungry." An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, starvation, medical neglect, hard labor and execution during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule. Historians and researchers say thousands of bodies could be buried at the site in northwestern Cambodia. It was one of nearly 200 Khmer Rouge prisons.
Buddhist ceremony honors dead in Khmer Rouge grave
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Foods and drinks are offered by local villagers at a make-shift shrine for newly unearthed skulls and bones at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Dau Dantrey village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012. Crowds of people traveled to the rural village on Tuesday after the discovery of what could be a Khmer Rouge mass grave. Some came to search for the remains of relatives. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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A villager Muth Moeun, 60, left, looks at unearthed human skulls and bones collected at a make-shift shrine at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Do Dontrei village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. More than 100 people attended a Buddhist ceremony in rural Cambodia at the site of a freshly dug Khmer Rouge mass grave. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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A Cambodian Buddhist monk talks to people at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Do Dontrei village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. More than 100 people attended a Buddhist ceremony in rural Cambodia at the site of a freshly dug Khmer Rouge mass grave. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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Children react to a piece of human bones shown by their mother at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Do Dontrei village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. More than 100 people attended a Buddhist ceremony in rural Cambodia at the site of a freshly dug Khmer Rouge mass grave. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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A local woman, left, offers a prayer as others prepare to set up a make-shift alter and offerings at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Do Dontrei village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. More than 100 people attended a Buddhist ceremony in rural Cambodia at the site of a freshly dug Khmer Rouge mass grave. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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A Cambodian Buddhist nun, center, preaches at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Do Dontrei village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. More than 100 people attended a Buddhist ceremony in rural Cambodia at the site of a freshly dug Khmer Rouge mass grave. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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Local villagers set up a make-shift alter and offerings at a grave site of Phnom Trungbat in Do Dontrei village, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012. More than 100 people attended a Buddhist ceremony in rural Cambodia at the site of a freshly dug Khmer Rouge mass grave. Buddhist monks led prayers and people came with offerings of food and drinks Thursday, five days after about 20 skulls and bone fragments were unearthed at the site of a former Khmer Rouge prison. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
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