Sri Lanka blames aid group in killings

A senior Sri Lankan official called Monday for an investigation into an international aid group, accusing it of negligent actions that led to the massacre of 17 of its workers in eastern Sri Lanka a year ago.

The employees of Action Against Hunger were found killed execution style in Muttur, 140 miles northeast of the capital, Colombo, amid heavy fighting between government troops and separatist Tamil rebels in August 2006.

European monitors at the time said they were "convinced" government troops were involved in the deaths because the workers were headquartered in a part of Muttur controlled by the army. The government vehemently denied any role, blaming the slayings on Tamil rebels.

No one has been arrested, and rights groups and aid workers have demanded that the government speedily bring the killers to justice, calling the case a test of Sri Lanka's commitment to human rights.

On Monday, Rajiva Wijesingha, head of the government's peace secretariat, sent a letter to Sri Lanka's human rights minister blaming the tragedy on the "utter irresponsibility" of the aid group in putting its workers at risk.

Wijesingha called for an independent inquiry into why the agency sent a large group of workers to Muttur knowing there was fighting in the town.

He also contended the group urged the workers to stay "despite repeated efforts by government officials and religious leaders to get them to move to a safer location."

Action Against Hunger said in a statement that it has agreed to "cooperate, and to answer questions related to the Muttur killing, within the framework of an independent and international inquiry."

"However, the core issue remains the identification and prosecution of the perpetrators through an effective criminal investigation led by the Sri Lankan government," it added.

Sri Lanka has been wracked by civil war since 1983, with ethnic Tamil rebels fighting to create an independent state after decades of discrimination by the South Asian island's Sinhalese majority. Rights groups have accused both sides of abuses.

More than 70,000 people have died in the fighting, including more than 5,000 in the last 21 months despite a cease-fire accord signed in 2002.