Rabat - A Moroccan human rights body on Wednesday strongly linked the remains of 15 unidentified bodies found in a state detention centre in the northeastern city of Nador to quashed 1984 protests. "There are strong signs linking this case to the events of 1984," the Consultative Committee for Human Rights (CCDH) said.

It said it witnessed the 15 remains first hand on Tuesday, though domestic news agency MAP reported authorities found 12 corpses that day.

In January 1984 government forces opened fire on students and some poor people who were protesting against soaring prices.

"The painful events of Nador in 1984 were already being investigated by the Equity and Reconciliation Committee," the CCDH said, referring to a dissolved Moroccan truth and reconciliation panel investigating this case, which "limited the number of deaths in this event to 16," it said.

The CCDH is still mandated to incorporate the truth and reconciliation commission's findings and to implement its recommendations.

The 15 corpses were transferred to a morgue where a medical team was verifying their identity, the human rights body said. It said it would keep victims' families informed of the enquiry's outcome.

The truth and reconciliation commission had prepared 16,000 cases of victims of the reign of King Hassan II, which lasted from 1961 until his death in 1999.

It had asked the government to shed light on countless unexplained disappearances.