Hanoi  - Workers on a construction project in downtown Hanoi have uncovered a mass grave dating from the country's war for independence from France, a local historian said Thursday.

"As of noon Thursday, 200 remains have been found," said noted historian and National Assembly member Duong Trung Quoc.

Quoc believes the remains belong to Vietnamese independence fighters killed by French troops in 1946-47.

Some of the remains were found wearing leg irons, suggesting the dead might have been executed prisoners. Others, wearing buttons with foreign insignias, may have been French.

Local media reported the remains were tied in red cloth and placed in terra cotta coffins for reburial at a cemetery outside Hanoi. Workers are hurrying to finish reburying the remains before January 23, the Vietnamese lunar New Year's Eve,

According to Vietnamese tradition, the dead may be unhappy if they are not in their tombs by New Year's Eve, when the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor.

The bodies began turning up January 11 at a construction site situated between high-rises in downtown Hanoi. The site, formerly a street market, is being cleared for development.

The market was officially known as the 19-12 Market, after December 19, 1946, the day Vietnamese Communists launched their guerrilla offensive to drive the French colonial regime out of the country.

But locals nicknamed it "Hell Market," due to the corpses unearthed in an earlier round of construction in 1982.

Quoc said more remains were likely to be uncovered, as workers plan further excavations.

The Hanoi city government initially planned to develop a high-rise shopping complex on the site, but that plan drew wide protests last autumn in local media from citizens concerned about the loss of a historical landmark.

In response, the city government cancelled the planned shopping center. It now plans to build a park and historical monument. (dpa)