Sri Lankan govt accused of cover-up

The Sri Lankan Government has been accused of a high level cover-up over the murder of 17 aid workers by local security forces in 2006.

The human rights group University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) made the allegation in a report based on 18 months of research into the killings.

Radio Australia's Karon Snowdon reports that the killings took place in Mutur, a predominantly Muslim town in Sri Lanka's northeast.

Although most of the pouplation had fled fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and government security forces, 17 local employees of the French aid group ACF chose to stay behind.

They were killed execution-style with a shot to the head in their agency's compound.

UTHR alleges that police shot the aid workers, the majority of whom were Tamils, with the complicity of senior officers.

UTHR spokesman Rajan Hoole says his organisation has gathered evidence indicating the shootings were carried out by police with naval security forces present, and alleges that the aid workers were murdered in reprisal for an attack on the town by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE.

"It happened just after the LTTE occupied Mutur for three days and then pulled out," he said.

Dr Hoole's report particularly implicates two police constables in the shootings, and alleges that the ringleader was a Muslim man employed by the Mutur police.

Known as the Muslim Home Guard, such individuals are frequently hired for short periods to provide local knowledge.

Dr Hoole says one of those killed was the brother of one of five students killed several months earlier in a similar fashion in the eastern town of Trincomalee - and says some of the same police officers were involved in both killings.

"We have pointed out that senior police officials were the same ones who were responsible for the killing of five students on the Trincomalee seafront seven months earlier," he said.

The UTHR report also criticises Sri Lanka's defence ministry and other senior police officials.

The government has denied any state involvement and says its investigation is continuing.

Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona says the government suspects the Mutur group were killed by Tamil Tigers.

Dr Kohona says the government investigation will call its witnesses this month, and says the fact Sri Lanka has sought forensic assistance from Australia in carrying out its investigation is proof that it is determined to get to the truth.

"It's outrageous to suggest there is a cover-up," he said.

The UTHR report comes as another international monitoring group, International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), announced it was pulling out of Sri Lanka, citing frustration at Colombo's lack of commitment to its investigation.

Foreign Secretary Kohona says there were some differences of opinion over methodology but some recommendations made by IIGEP will be followed

"The government, I must assure you, is determined to ensure that human rights are protected in Sri Lanka," he said.