SARAJEVO, Sept 2 (AFP) - Forensic experts have unearthed 40 bodies from a newly discovered mass grave in eastern Bosnia believed to contain victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst post-World War II atrocity, an official said Thursday.
"So far we have exhumed 40 bodies which we believe are of Srebrenica massacre victims," Commission for Missing People representative Murat Hurtic said.
The bodies appear to have been initially buried somewhere else and moved to the site to cover up the crime, he added.
Hurtic said some 200 bodies were expected to be found in the 25-by-four metre (83-by-13 feet) grave discovered in the eastern village of Bljeceva on Tuesday.
The grave had been found some 50 meters (yards) from another mass burial site were more than 200 bodies and remains of bodies were exhumed last month, with up to a third of them also believed to be victims of the Srebrenica massacre.
More than 7,000 Muslim men and boys were slain in the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995 just a few days after Serb forces overran the enclave controlled by the mainly Muslim Bosnian Army.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross there are still more than 16,000 people missing from Bosnia's 1992-95 war, which claimed more than 200,000 lives. Around 96 percent of the missing are Muslims.
So far some 18,000 bodies have been exhumed from over 300 mass graves throughout Bosnia, according to forensic teams.