UP TO 600 Bosnian Muslims are thought to have been buried in the largest mass grave found in Bosnia. The grave holds victims of the Srebrenica massacra, and if the estimate is correct, it would be twice as large as any grave found so far.

The grave is in dense woodland at a place called Crni Vrh (Black Peak), about six miles (10 km) from the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik. It is in the Bosnian Serb controlled region close to an old front line, and is surrounded on three sides by a minefield.

The discovery comes just days before the first mass reburials from Srebrenica.

“We will only know the exact size of the grave when the excavation begins,” said Jenny Ranson from the International Commission on Missing Persons.

“A number of mass graves have been discovered in this area but the indications are that this could be the largest. It could take two to three months to excavate the site.”

It is understood that information about the site came from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in the Hague. The site has been known of since November, but details have only just been released.

The location of graves is being kept secret in case they are disturbed before the exhumation teams arrive. The Crni Vrh site is now protected by local police, backed by international monitors.

A team of British scientists are examining the grave using ground penetration radar and three-dimensional computer imaging. It is the first time that this equipment, usually used for mapping utility pipes, has been used to locate a mass grave.

Richard Harrington, head of the exhumation team, said: “As memories fade and intelligence about the exact location of sites becomes rarer, we hope this equipment will be used more and more.”

The reburial ceremony will take place close to Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995. Of those victims, 582 will be buried at the new cemetery and memorial built next to the old UN compound near the town. The cemetery will cost about $5 million (£3 million) to build. Just over half of that money has been raised.

Construction at the site, which is about the size of two football pitches, began six months ago. It is designed in the shape of the petals of a flower. Ten thousand white tombstones will be erected.

Only a fraction of those killed during the massacre have been identified so far. “I lost two sons, a brother, neighbours. There’s no one left here,” Aljo Hodzic, 63, a Bosnian Muslim farmer who has returned to his home near Srebrenica, said.

He returned two years ago, living in a tent for a year, while trying to rebuild his destroyed house. His wife, Fata, joined him a year ago.

One of their sons, Hidajet, 22, was killed as they tried to escape through the woods a few days before the fall of Srebrenica. Hundreds were killed by the Bosnian Serbs as they fled over the mountains. Most were later buried in mass graves.

The Hodzic family was lucky as, unlike thousands of other families, their son was found and identified. His remains were retrieved from a mass grave a few kilometres from their home. He will be reburied in the new cemetery.

The family are determined to rebuild their lives in Srebrenica despite the horrors that befell their relations and friends.

They say the new memorial and cemetery is important so that people do not forget what happened.

“We’ve come back here so that we will be close to our sons’ graveyards to visit them,” Fata said. “I lived for them, I brought them up and I want to be close to them now.”

Earlier this month, Bosnia’s highest human rights court awarded record compensation to the families of victims of the massacre.

The current Bosnian Serb authorities have been ordered to pay $1 million towards the construction of the new cemetery and memorial.

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