Lorca's civil war grave found empty (Spain)

One of Spain's most enduring mysteries has remained unsolved after archaeologists exhumed a mass grave without finding the remains of Federico Garcia Lorca.

The project on a remote hillside outside the southern city of Granada was intended to trace of the nation's most celebrated modern poet and playwright.

But the two-month excavation of an area of parkland about the size of half a football pitch will come to an end this week and as yet no human remains have been unearthed.

Digging started in Alfacar at the end of October after years of campaigning by relatives of those believed to be buried alongside Lorca.

The family of the poet, who has become the most emblematic victim of Franco's repression, originally opposed the exhumation claiming little could be achieved through digging up the past.

But they relented after a local judge ruled it would serve public interest and they agreed to provide DNA samples to identify the poet's remains if and when he was found.

The lack of results has fuelled speculation over the fate of Lorca, who was killed by supporters of General Francisco Franco at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.