Diamonds are a girls best friend...

The military operation was known as "Operation Hakudzokwe", which translates as Operation "You Shall Never Return". This operation was a torture camp run by Zimbabwe's security forces in the country's rich Marange diamond fields in 2008. The soldiers, many racked with guilt over their own actions, told that the massacre was part of a full-scale military operation ordered from senior levels in Zimbabwe's military. Its purpose was to clear the diamond fields of freelance diamond diggers to pave the way for the military to take charge of the area. Military sources said that about 1,500 soldiers took part in the operation. 

The massacre took place in late October 2008 when Zimbabwe was in the depths of economic crisis. Thousands of civilians had flocked to the diamond fields in the hope of finding gems. Among the victims were women and children, some working in a makeshift market which had sprung up to sell food and clothes to the miners. Unknown to them, several weeks before the killings began, the military had started laying a circular trap around the civilians. They laid strings of mines and ultimately stationed armoured vehicles, mounted soldiers and an infantry battalion in a circular pattern around the 2.5km area.

"In the end there was no way out"

Warning shots were initially fired, but soon after soldiers and paramilitary police began firing AK47's directly into those fleeing and people were gunned down.

"Twenty to 30 people would die every day. I am talking about the ones I saw with my own eyes,"

said one officer involved in the attacks.

"Even those that had been injured were being finished off"

Several people told of seeing groups of bodies left in shallow graves in the diamond fields.

Many civilians were severely mauled by trained dog units.

"Vumbai", a 27 year old mother of two, was dragged into a bush by a soldier.

"He then raped me. I could hear other people screaming and crying. They were being raped like me."

A mass grave, containing between 69 and 105 bodies, exists at Damgamvura Cemetery in Mutare, the main town near the diamond fields.

"The body parts were packed in black plastic bags. You could actually see the bones piercing through the plastic. Blood was dripping everywhere. It was disgusting." 

 Remember. This is not a movie. This is real. Real lives.

Read the news from BBC