Report blames forces in Sri Lanka aid massacre

LONDON (Reuters) - A rights group report on Tuesday blamedlocal security forces for the massacre of 17 Sri Lankan tsunamiaid workers in 2006 and accused the government of an outrightcover-up.

At the time, the killing of the local workers from aidgroup Action Contre La Faim (ACF) in the island's northeast wasthe worst attack on humanitarian workers since the 2003 bombingof the United Nations compound in Baghdad.

The mainly ethnic Tamil workers, who had been involved inrebuilding after the 2004 tsunami, were found shot in the headand lying face down in the ACF compound in the predominantlyMuslim town of Mutur in August 2006.

The military said they were trapped in fighting betweentroops and rebels.

The University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), a SriLankan group that has been criticised by both sides throughoutthe two decade civil war, named a local Muslim home guard -- apolice auxiliary -- and two constables as the killers of mostof the group.

"The evidence shows state security forces, includingpolice, killed the 17 aid workers and that senior policeofficers covered it up," said Rajan Hoole of UTHR. "The killingof civilians during time of conflict is a war crime. Theperpetrators and their superiors should be brought to justice."

Most Mutur residents had fled the town by the time of themassacre. The first aid team into the town days later found thebloated bodies in the ACF compound, most shot at close range.

The Sri Lankan government has denied responsibility andblamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

International monitors recently told the government theywere withdrawing from the inquiry because of officialinterference and lack of internationally acceptable standards.

The report said the brother of a Muslim home guard had beenkilled by a Tiger gunman the previous day and he had vowedrevenge. It also said a special forces commander in the townordered security forces to "finish off" any Tamil speakers inplain clothes if they had any suspicions after another rebeldisguised as a civilian killed troops.

"AIR OF CELEBRATION"

It said witnesses described an "air of celebration" atMutur police station after the massacre, adding that the angerof the Muslim home guard appeared to have simply been "apretext" and senior figures in the nearby north-eastern town ofTrincomalee apparently also backed the killings.

The report said the execution-style murder of five Tamilstudents in Trincomalee earlier in 2006 had also been coveredup and one of the responsible officers promoted, fostering aculture of impunity as a 2002 ceasefire collapsed into openwar.

International group Human Rights Watch described the reportas a "brilliant piece of investigative work".

"It does more than name the names of those responsible forthe brutal ACF killings," said Human Rights Watch senior legaladviser James Ross. "It shows the government investigationsinto the massacre were little more than a bad joke played outon the victims' families and the international community."

UTHR said publishing the report was not without risk,particularly as three witnesses had already been killed, afourth had gone missing and others fled the country -- part ofa wider pattern of disappearances and killings.

(for more information on humanitarian crises and issuesvisit www.alertnet.org)