Spain will exhume dictator Francisco Franco's remains on Thursday

A woman walks past the mausoleum where late dictator Francisco Franco is expected to be buried at Mingorrubio-El Pardo cemetery in Madrid, Spain, September 25, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will on Thursday remove dictator Francisco Franco's remains from the state mausoleum in which he was buried in 1975, the government said on Monday.

The ruling Socialists have long sought to exhume Franco's remains and 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.