Athens/Nicosia  - The remains of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war missing for more than three decades were discovered in a mass grave in the Turkish-controlled part of the divided island of Cyprus, reports said Monday.

Their remains, found in exhumations being carried out by the Investigative Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) in a mass grave in the village of Tziacs, were identified through DNA testing.

The soldiers served in the National Guard's 398th Infantry Battalion. They photographed kneeing with their hands tied behind their heads at the time they were taken prisoners in 1974.

Some 1,500 Greek Cypriots and 500 Turkish Cypriots are officially registered as missing in Cyprus since inter-communal between the two communities in the 1960s and during the Turkish invasion in 1974 in response to an attempted coup backed by the Greek government.

The United Nations' Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), established in 1981, has been tasked with overseeing exhumations of suspected mass graves, debriefing witnesses and exchanging information between the two sides.

It is the only official joint project on the island that is actually working while leaders launched a new round of peace talks last September.

Xanophone Kallis, assistant to the Greek Cypriot member of the CMP, said the remains of 14 more people were found in the same grave as that of the five soldiers but have not yet been identified.

For more than 30 years, the issue of the missing has been a highly charged one on the eastern Mediterranean island. Communities on both sides blame the other for the lack of cooperation, adding to decades of mistrust between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. (dpa)