Descendants of refugees who fled Spain during the 1936-39 civil war or the ensuing dictatorship are contributing to a DNA bank to help identify bodies in mass graves believed to be victims of General Franco's forces.

Spaniards from France, Switzerland, Italy and Brazil, where many had emigrated during the war, gathered this past week in the cultural centre in the town of Aranda de Duero, in Burgos province north of Madrid.

All believe that relatives who disappeared during the war or the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco are buried in some of the seven mass graves in the area.