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US investigates burial of eight in grave of 'unknown' soldier

The US army said on Friday it had launched a criminal investigation after it found eight sets of cremated remains in the grave of an "unknown" soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

The botched burial is the latest in a series of mishaps at the US military cemetery, which sees four million visitors a year and is the resting place of president John F. Kennedy, a dozen Supreme Court justices, other famous Americans and casualties of all US wars.

The Army National Cemeteries Program became aware of "questionable practices" at the cemetery outside Washington in October and requested the investigation, spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst told AFP.

Three sets of the cremated remains have so far been identified, and cemetery officials are in the process of notifying the families, she said....

Investigators are still looking into four other sets of remains, and the eighth was reinterred because it could not be positively identified.

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)