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Thursday, 7 August 2014
'I love the name Terror Twin...I sound scary' What schoolgirl who fled to Syria and married an Isis fighter said after hearing her nickname
One of the schoolgirl sisters who fled Britain to join ISIS and marry warlords has admitted she is proud to be known as a 'Terror Twin' and 'loves' living in Syria.
Salma and Zahra Halane, who have 28 GCSEs between them, ran away from their family in Chorlton, Greater Manchester, a month ago for 'paradise' in the war torn Middle East.
They have vowed never to return home after following their brother to Syria and social media updates suggest the pair are training to use grenades and Kalashnikov rifles.
One of them, who has taken the name Umm Ja'far, has tweeted a slew of fanatical messages, including several revealing she still plans to be a doctor - but only so she can treat ISIS fighters.In her latest exchange online she told The Sun: 'I love the name Terror Twin because it makes me sound scary. Isis love it when they make us sound scary because it makes us a big threat so I love it.
She added: 'I support the executions of Syrian soldiers. It's self defence.'
The pair left Manchester after sneaking from their bedrooms in the middle of the night and caught a flight to Turkey, before crossing the border into Syria.
Police said the pair are thought to have followed their elder brother, who also ditched his own ‘excellent’ academic career to join the ISIS terror group around a year ago.
Friends said the twins had appeared to be typical teenagers, pouting for selfies and shopping at Primark – but they are now feared to be training for battle.
The twins’ parents raised the alarm after finding the girls’ beds empty and their passports and clothes missing.
A former neighbour said the couple had been ‘quite strict’, and did not allow the girls to ‘mix with other children on the street’.
Last month a rebel fighter boasted that he was teaching girls as young as 16 how to fight. Yilmaz, a Dutch national who has been in Syria for two years said: ‘It’s extremely easy to get here. People go on holiday ... they end up in Syria.’
Saudi bans brides from 4 countries
Saudi men have been banned from marrying women from three Asian and one African country as the Gulf state toughens the rules restricting marriage with foreigners, a local daily said.
Marrying women from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Chad is no longer permissible, Makkah newspaper reported.
It said the total population of these communities in Saudi Arabia has exceeded 500,000 people, citing unofficial statistics, implying that this might be the reason.
The paper said the new restrictions are now stipulated in the application forms that any Saudi wishing to marry a foreign woman should present to authorities.
It also cited the Mecca police chief, General Assaf al-Qurashi, confirming that the four countries have been excluded.
Moreover, the formalities for marrying a foreigner have been toughened, according to Makkah.
A man should be older than 25 to be able to apply for a permit to marry a foreigner. If recently divorced, he has to wait six months before applying for the licence, according to the newspaper.
If married, a Saudi man wishing to take a foreign woman as a second wife, he has to present proof that his first wife has cancer, is disabled or unable to have children, it said.
Saudi Arabia allows men to take up to four wives, in accord with Islamic law.
Foreigners in Saudi Arabia represent around 30 percent of a population exceeding 27 million.
Marrying women from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Chad is no longer permissible, Makkah newspaper reported.
It said the total population of these communities in Saudi Arabia has exceeded 500,000 people, citing unofficial statistics, implying that this might be the reason.
The paper said the new restrictions are now stipulated in the application forms that any Saudi wishing to marry a foreign woman should present to authorities.
It also cited the Mecca police chief, General Assaf al-Qurashi, confirming that the four countries have been excluded.
Moreover, the formalities for marrying a foreigner have been toughened, according to Makkah.
A man should be older than 25 to be able to apply for a permit to marry a foreigner. If recently divorced, he has to wait six months before applying for the licence, according to the newspaper.
If married, a Saudi man wishing to take a foreign woman as a second wife, he has to present proof that his first wife has cancer, is disabled or unable to have children, it said.
Saudi Arabia allows men to take up to four wives, in accord with Islamic law.
Foreigners in Saudi Arabia represent around 30 percent of a population exceeding 27 million.
How Ebola victims are left to rot in the streets: Terrified relatives dump them outside for fear of catching deadly virus
Relatives of Ebola victims are dragging their bodies onto streets of Liberia
A young man lies dead in the streets of Liberia, left to rot in view of passers-by and local children.
He is just one of many Ebola victims to have been dragged out of their homes and dumped on the country's roads by terrified relatives in a desperate bid to avoid being quarantined.
The deadly virus, which can cause victims to suffer from severe bruising and bleeding from the eyes and mouth, has claimed the lives of nearly 900 people across West Africa so far.
Last week, the Liberian government announced a raft of tough measures to contain the disease, including shutting schools, imposing quarantines on victim's homes and tracking their friends and relatives.
Today, Information Minister, Lewis Brown, said locals had started dragging their loved ones' bodies onto the streets out of fear that the new government regulations would risk their own health.
With less than half of those infected surviving the disease, many Africans regard Ebola isolation wards as death traps, he said.
'They are therefore removing the bodies from their homes and are putting them out in the street,' Mr Brown told Reuters.
'They're exposing themselves to the risk of being contaminated. We're asking people to please leave the bodies in their homes and we'll pick them up.'
On Monday, the Liberian government announced via state radio that all corpses of Ebola victims must be cremated amid fears the incurable disease could overrun healthcare systems in one of the world's poorest regions.
The order came after a tense standoff erupted over the weekend when health workers tried to bury more than 20 Ebola victims on the outskirts of Monrovia, LIberia's ramshackle ocean-front capital.
Authorities said military police officers were called in to help restore order so that the burials could take place.
Many of the victims had contracted the disease by touching the bodies of other victims as is tradition at funerals, they added.
WHAT IS THE EBOLA VIRUS?
Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness, with a death rate of up to 90 per cent. It affects humans as well as primates, including monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees.
Once a person becomes infected, the virus can spread through contact with a sufferer's blood and other bodily fluids.
A person can also become infected if broken skin comes into contact with a victim's soiled clothing, bed linen or used needles.
Symptoms of Ebola include the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.
These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding.
If a person is in an area affected by the outbreak, or has been in contact with a person known or suspected to have Ebola, they should seek medical help immediately.
Mr Brown said authorities had begun cremating bodies on Sunday after local communities opposed burials in their neighbourhoods, and had carried out 12 cremations on Monday.
Meanwhile, in the border region of Lofa County, troops were deployed on Monday night to start isolating effected communities there, he said.
'We hope it will not require excessive force, but we have to do whatever we can to restrict the movement of people out of affected areas,' Mr Brown said.
The outbreak of Ebola, which emerged in March, spread to Nigeria in late July when Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old American of Liberian descent, flew from Liberia's capital to the megacity of Lagos
Authorities in Lagos now claim eight people who came in contact with the deceased U.S. citizen Patrick Sawyer are showing signs of the deadly disease.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the outbreak is spreading fastest, authorities have deployed troops to quarantine the border areas where 70 percent of cases have been detected.
Liberia's finance minister Amara Konneh said the country's growth forecast for the year was no longer looking realistic as a result of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's foreign minister Samura Kamara said that the virus had cost the government $10 million so far and was hampering efforts to stimulate growth.
Yesterday, British Airways said it was suspending flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until the end of the month due to public health concerns.
Germany joined France and the United States in advising against travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, saying there was still no end in sight to the spread of the disease.
It comes as a second American aid worker stricken with Ebola in West Africa has been wheeled on a stretcher in a white suit into an Atlanta hospital, where doctors will try and save her and a fellow aid worker from the deadly virus.
The pair saw their conditions improve by varying degrees in Liberia after receiving an experimental drug developed by San Diego-based private biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, said a representative for their charity, Samaritan's Purse.
A New York hospital is also testing a man with symptoms of the deadly disease, although a senior medical officer there said it was probably not the virus.
Meanwhile, a man in Saudi Arabia is undergoing examinations for suspected Ebola infection after he returned recently from a business trip to Sierra Leone.
With healthcare systems in the West African nations overrun by the epidemic, the African Development Bank and World Bank said they would immediately disburse $260 million (£154million) to the three countries worst affected - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
In Monrovia, however, some health clinics were deserted as workers and patients stayed home, afraid of catching the disease.
'The health workers think that they are not protected, they don't have the requisite material to use to protect themselves against the Ebola disease,' said Amos Richards, a physician's assistant.
A young man lies dead in the streets of Liberia, left to rot in view of passers-by and local children.
He is just one of many Ebola victims to have been dragged out of their homes and dumped on the country's roads by terrified relatives in a desperate bid to avoid being quarantined.
The deadly virus, which can cause victims to suffer from severe bruising and bleeding from the eyes and mouth, has claimed the lives of nearly 900 people across West Africa so far.
Today, Information Minister, Lewis Brown, said locals had started dragging their loved ones' bodies onto the streets out of fear that the new government regulations would risk their own health.
With less than half of those infected surviving the disease, many Africans regard Ebola isolation wards as death traps, he said.
'They are therefore removing the bodies from their homes and are putting them out in the street,' Mr Brown told Reuters.
'They're exposing themselves to the risk of being contaminated. We're asking people to please leave the bodies in their homes and we'll pick them up.'
On Monday, the Liberian government announced via state radio that all corpses of Ebola victims must be cremated amid fears the incurable disease could overrun healthcare systems in one of the world's poorest regions.
The order came after a tense standoff erupted over the weekend when health workers tried to bury more than 20 Ebola victims on the outskirts of Monrovia, LIberia's ramshackle ocean-front capital.
Authorities said military police officers were called in to help restore order so that the burials could take place.
Many of the victims had contracted the disease by touching the bodies of other victims as is tradition at funerals, they added.
WHAT IS THE EBOLA VIRUS?
Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness, with a death rate of up to 90 per cent. It affects humans as well as primates, including monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees.
Once a person becomes infected, the virus can spread through contact with a sufferer's blood and other bodily fluids.
A person can also become infected if broken skin comes into contact with a victim's soiled clothing, bed linen or used needles.
Symptoms of Ebola include the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.
These are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding.
If a person is in an area affected by the outbreak, or has been in contact with a person known or suspected to have Ebola, they should seek medical help immediately.
Mr Brown said authorities had begun cremating bodies on Sunday after local communities opposed burials in their neighbourhoods, and had carried out 12 cremations on Monday.
Meanwhile, in the border region of Lofa County, troops were deployed on Monday night to start isolating effected communities there, he said.
'We hope it will not require excessive force, but we have to do whatever we can to restrict the movement of people out of affected areas,' Mr Brown said.
The outbreak of Ebola, which emerged in March, spread to Nigeria in late July when Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old American of Liberian descent, flew from Liberia's capital to the megacity of Lagos
Authorities in Lagos now claim eight people who came in contact with the deceased U.S. citizen Patrick Sawyer are showing signs of the deadly disease.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the outbreak is spreading fastest, authorities have deployed troops to quarantine the border areas where 70 percent of cases have been detected.
Liberia's finance minister Amara Konneh said the country's growth forecast for the year was no longer looking realistic as a result of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's foreign minister Samura Kamara said that the virus had cost the government $10 million so far and was hampering efforts to stimulate growth.
Yesterday, British Airways said it was suspending flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until the end of the month due to public health concerns.
Germany joined France and the United States in advising against travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, saying there was still no end in sight to the spread of the disease.
It comes as a second American aid worker stricken with Ebola in West Africa has been wheeled on a stretcher in a white suit into an Atlanta hospital, where doctors will try and save her and a fellow aid worker from the deadly virus.
The pair saw their conditions improve by varying degrees in Liberia after receiving an experimental drug developed by San Diego-based private biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, said a representative for their charity, Samaritan's Purse.
A New York hospital is also testing a man with symptoms of the deadly disease, although a senior medical officer there said it was probably not the virus.
Meanwhile, a man in Saudi Arabia is undergoing examinations for suspected Ebola infection after he returned recently from a business trip to Sierra Leone.
With healthcare systems in the West African nations overrun by the epidemic, the African Development Bank and World Bank said they would immediately disburse $260 million (£154million) to the three countries worst affected - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
In Monrovia, however, some health clinics were deserted as workers and patients stayed home, afraid of catching the disease.
'The health workers think that they are not protected, they don't have the requisite material to use to protect themselves against the Ebola disease,' said Amos Richards, a physician's assistant.
Syrian rebels crucified: Islamic extremists execute two men in the most public way for 'fighting against Muslims' WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced it had executed seven prisoners, including two by crucifixion Group said it held the seven responsible for grenade attack this month
Islamic extremists have publicly crucified two Syrian rebels in northeastern Syria in revenge for a grenade attack on members of their group.
The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it had executed a total of seven prisoners who it claimed had carried out a grenade attack on one of its fighters earlier this month in the Euphrates Valley city of Raqqa.
The group, which even Al Qaeda have been keen to distance themselves from, said on Twitter: 'Ten days ago, attackers on a motorbike threw a grenade at an ISIL fighter at the Naim roundabout. A Muslim civilian had his leg blown off and a child was killed.
Brutal: The images, which could not be independently verified, appear to demonstrate Isis's uncompromising brand of hardline Islamist justice
'Our fighters immediately set up a roadblock and succeeded in capturing them. They were then able to detain other members of the cell.'
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a photograph of the two prisoners being crucified at the roundabout.
Passers-by appear to be walking past the two men apparently unfazed.
One of the men is pictured with a banner wrapped round his body which reads: 'This man fought against Muslims and threw a grenade in this place.'
More...
The new tests on attack sites that show Assad's regime is launching chemical attacks on civilians… though Syrian officials deny it
Pictured: Suicide vest filled with nuts and bolts to cause maximum destruction found in abandoned sacks by the road
Abu Ibrahim Alrquaoui, who described himself as a founder of the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, told FoxNews.com that those killed had previously fought against the Syrian government of Bashir al-Assad.
He said he witnessed the executions and took photographs which are now being circulated online.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were not the first crucifixions by ISIL. On April 16, its fighters executed a man for theft from a Muslim in the same way.
ISIL's exactions caused a backlash against them from rival rebel groups, including Al-Qaeda's official Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front, who joined forces against its fighters from the start of the year.
ISIL has now been forced out of much of northern Syria but its fighters remain entrenched in Raqqa - the only provincial capital entirely outside Syrian government control - and much of its surrounding province.
The group also carried out three executions in the Raqqa provincial town of Tal Abyad, on the Turkish border, and two more in the town of Saluq, the Observatory said.
Last week, ISIL claimed responsibility for a series of explosions which killed 28 people and left more than 40 injured at a political rally in Iraq on Friday.
The militant group Asaib Ahl Haq (League of the Righteous) was presenting its candidates for elections on April 30 at the rally in eastern Baghdad.
Three bombs exploded in succession as people were leaving, reporters at the scene said.
A roadside bomb went off near the main gate, followed by a suicide car bomb after a few minutes and then a final explosion.
In a statement posted on the internet, ISIL said it had carried out the bombings in response to 'murder, torture and displacement' of Sunnis by Shi'ite militias which 'massacred children and women'.
In February, MailOnline reported how a Syrian girl was stoned to death for opening a Facebook account after a court, under the jurisdiction of ISIL, ruled the act of being a member of the social network deserved to be punished the same way as adultery.
ISIL: EXTREMIST GROUP EVEN AL QAEDA DISTANCED THEMSELVES FROM
ISIL (or ISIS) is a pro-Al Qaeda jihadist group that many feared was taking an iron grip over parts of Syria.
The group was formed in April 2013 and grew out of Al Qaeda's affiliate organisation in Iraq. It has since become one of the main jihadist groups fighting government forces in Syria.
The final letter in the acronym ISIL stems from the Arabic word 'al-Sham'. This can mean the Levant, Syria or even Damascus but in the context of the global jihad it refers to the Levant.
Its precise size is unknown, but it is thought to include thousands of fighters, including many foreign jihadists.
Analysts say non-Syrians constitute a majority of ISIL's elite fighter corps and are disproportionately represented in its leadership.
It took over the city of Al-Reqqa after rebels overran the city in March 2013. It was the first provincial capital to fall under rebel control.
It also has a presence in a number of towns close to the Turkish border in the north of the country, and has gained a reputation for brutal rule in the areas that it controls.
The group has been operating independently of other jihadist groups such as the Nusra Front and has had a tense relationship with other rebels in Syria. Al Qaeda refuse to deal with them.
In July, a commander of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) was reportedly shot dead by ISIL fighters in the coastal province of Lattakia.
There were also reports of deadly clashes between the two groups in the north-western province of Idlib. ISIL also seized the northern town of Azaz from the FSA on 18 September.
There has also been friction with other Islamists. In November 2013, ISIL was accused of killing a prominent member of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham.
The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it had executed a total of seven prisoners who it claimed had carried out a grenade attack on one of its fighters earlier this month in the Euphrates Valley city of Raqqa.
The group, which even Al Qaeda have been keen to distance themselves from, said on Twitter: 'Ten days ago, attackers on a motorbike threw a grenade at an ISIL fighter at the Naim roundabout. A Muslim civilian had his leg blown off and a child was killed.
Brutal: The images, which could not be independently verified, appear to demonstrate Isis's uncompromising brand of hardline Islamist justice
'Our fighters immediately set up a roadblock and succeeded in capturing them. They were then able to detain other members of the cell.'
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a photograph of the two prisoners being crucified at the roundabout.
Passers-by appear to be walking past the two men apparently unfazed.
One of the men is pictured with a banner wrapped round his body which reads: 'This man fought against Muslims and threw a grenade in this place.'
More...
The new tests on attack sites that show Assad's regime is launching chemical attacks on civilians… though Syrian officials deny it
Pictured: Suicide vest filled with nuts and bolts to cause maximum destruction found in abandoned sacks by the road
Abu Ibrahim Alrquaoui, who described himself as a founder of the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, told FoxNews.com that those killed had previously fought against the Syrian government of Bashir al-Assad.
He said he witnessed the executions and took photographs which are now being circulated online.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were not the first crucifixions by ISIL. On April 16, its fighters executed a man for theft from a Muslim in the same way.
ISIL's exactions caused a backlash against them from rival rebel groups, including Al-Qaeda's official Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front, who joined forces against its fighters from the start of the year.
ISIL has now been forced out of much of northern Syria but its fighters remain entrenched in Raqqa - the only provincial capital entirely outside Syrian government control - and much of its surrounding province.
The group also carried out three executions in the Raqqa provincial town of Tal Abyad, on the Turkish border, and two more in the town of Saluq, the Observatory said.
Last week, ISIL claimed responsibility for a series of explosions which killed 28 people and left more than 40 injured at a political rally in Iraq on Friday.
The militant group Asaib Ahl Haq (League of the Righteous) was presenting its candidates for elections on April 30 at the rally in eastern Baghdad.
Three bombs exploded in succession as people were leaving, reporters at the scene said.
A roadside bomb went off near the main gate, followed by a suicide car bomb after a few minutes and then a final explosion.
In a statement posted on the internet, ISIL said it had carried out the bombings in response to 'murder, torture and displacement' of Sunnis by Shi'ite militias which 'massacred children and women'.
In February, MailOnline reported how a Syrian girl was stoned to death for opening a Facebook account after a court, under the jurisdiction of ISIL, ruled the act of being a member of the social network deserved to be punished the same way as adultery.
ISIL: EXTREMIST GROUP EVEN AL QAEDA DISTANCED THEMSELVES FROM
ISIL (or ISIS) is a pro-Al Qaeda jihadist group that many feared was taking an iron grip over parts of Syria.
The group was formed in April 2013 and grew out of Al Qaeda's affiliate organisation in Iraq. It has since become one of the main jihadist groups fighting government forces in Syria.
The final letter in the acronym ISIL stems from the Arabic word 'al-Sham'. This can mean the Levant, Syria or even Damascus but in the context of the global jihad it refers to the Levant.
Its precise size is unknown, but it is thought to include thousands of fighters, including many foreign jihadists.
Analysts say non-Syrians constitute a majority of ISIL's elite fighter corps and are disproportionately represented in its leadership.
It took over the city of Al-Reqqa after rebels overran the city in March 2013. It was the first provincial capital to fall under rebel control.
It also has a presence in a number of towns close to the Turkish border in the north of the country, and has gained a reputation for brutal rule in the areas that it controls.
The group has been operating independently of other jihadist groups such as the Nusra Front and has had a tense relationship with other rebels in Syria. Al Qaeda refuse to deal with them.
In July, a commander of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) was reportedly shot dead by ISIL fighters in the coastal province of Lattakia.
There were also reports of deadly clashes between the two groups in the north-western province of Idlib. ISIL also seized the northern town of Azaz from the FSA on 18 September.
There has also been friction with other Islamists. In November 2013, ISIL was accused of killing a prominent member of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham.
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Remains of 55 bodies found near former Florida reform school
Excavations at a makeshift graveyard near a now-closed
reform school in the Florida Panhandle have yielded remains of 55
bodies, almost twice the number official records say are there, the
University of South Florida announced on Tuesday.
"This is precisely why excavation was necessary," said USF professor Erin Kimmerle, head of the research project. "The only way to truly establish the facts about the deaths and burials at the school is to follow scientific processes."
On a hillside in the rolling, tall-pine forests near the Alabama-Georgia border, a team of more than 50 searchers from nine agencies last year dug up the graves to check out local legends and family tales of boys, mostly black, who died or disappeared without explanation from the Dozier School for Boys early in the last century.
The school, infamous for accounts of brutality told by former inmates, was closed by the state in 2011.
The University of South Florida was commissioned to look into deaths at the school in the Panhandle city of Marianna, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the presence of 31 official grave sites in 2010.
Excavation began last September with bones, teeth and several artifacts from grave sites sent to the University of North Texas Science Center for DNA testing.
Members of 11 families who lost boys at Dozier have been located by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office for DNA sampling and researchers hope to find 42 more families for possible matching.
State investigators initially located 31 suspected graves in the woods across a busy highway from the shuttered reform school. Kimmerle's more detailed probes raised the number to 50 or 51 last year, and USF announced on Tuesday the searchers had found remains of 55 bodies.
"Locating 55 burials is a significant finding, which opens up a whole new set of questions for our team," said Kimmerle.
"All of the analyses needed to answer these important questions are yet to be done, but it is our intention to answer as many of these questions as possible."
Research will continue in areas adjacent to the graveyard, dubbed "boot hill" by school officials and inmates a century ago.
Greg Ridgeway, acting director of the National Institute of Justice, praised Kimmerle's work. He said the discoveries made by the USF team "will not only bring resolution to these cases but will add to our knowledge about investigations of missing and unidentified persons in jurisdictions throughout the country."
"This is precisely why excavation was necessary," said USF professor Erin Kimmerle, head of the research project. "The only way to truly establish the facts about the deaths and burials at the school is to follow scientific processes."
On a hillside in the rolling, tall-pine forests near the Alabama-Georgia border, a team of more than 50 searchers from nine agencies last year dug up the graves to check out local legends and family tales of boys, mostly black, who died or disappeared without explanation from the Dozier School for Boys early in the last century.
The school, infamous for accounts of brutality told by former inmates, was closed by the state in 2011.
The University of South Florida was commissioned to look into deaths at the school in the Panhandle city of Marianna, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the presence of 31 official grave sites in 2010.
Excavation began last September with bones, teeth and several artifacts from grave sites sent to the University of North Texas Science Center for DNA testing.
Members of 11 families who lost boys at Dozier have been located by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office for DNA sampling and researchers hope to find 42 more families for possible matching.
State investigators initially located 31 suspected graves in the woods across a busy highway from the shuttered reform school. Kimmerle's more detailed probes raised the number to 50 or 51 last year, and USF announced on Tuesday the searchers had found remains of 55 bodies.
"Locating 55 burials is a significant finding, which opens up a whole new set of questions for our team," said Kimmerle.
"All of the analyses needed to answer these important questions are yet to be done, but it is our intention to answer as many of these questions as possible."
Research will continue in areas adjacent to the graveyard, dubbed "boot hill" by school officials and inmates a century ago.
Greg Ridgeway, acting director of the National Institute of Justice, praised Kimmerle's work. He said the discoveries made by the USF team "will not only bring resolution to these cases but will add to our knowledge about investigations of missing and unidentified persons in jurisdictions throughout the country."
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