Spain will exhume dictator Francisco Franco's remains on Thursday

Spainwill onThursdayremovedictatorFranciscoFranco'sremainsfrom the state mausoleum in which he was buried in 1975, the government said on Monday.

The ruling Socialists have long sought toexhumeFranco'sremainsand turn the Valley of the Fallen complex near the capital Madrid into a memorial to the 500,000 people who were killed during the 1936-39 civil war he unleashed.

The family disputed the exhumation in courts but the Supreme Court rejected their appeal last month. The government had said it would go ahead with its plan by the end this week, and on Monday gave the day and time of the exhumation.

The latedictator's family will attend the removal of hisremainsfrom the monument's central basilica at 1030 (0830 GMT) onThursday, the government said in a statement.

He will be buried alongside his wife in the Mingorrubio El Pardo cemetery north of Madrid.

The Valley of the Fallen mausoleum holds the bodies of 34,000 Spaniards who died during the war, including many from the losing Republican side whose bodies were moved there duringFranco'srule without the permission of their families.

Neither media nor the general public will be allowed to watch the proceedings, in preparation of which the government shut the Valley of the Fallen.

The location ofFranco'stomb continues to fracture Spanish opinion with 43 per centin favour of the move and 32.5 per centagainst, according to a poll published by El Mundo last week.

Spainis facing its fourth election in four years in November and movingFranco'sremainsfrom the state mausoleum had long been a Socialist pledge.