French aid group recovers slain Sri Lanka workers

Fighting in Mutur between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels was prompted by a water dispute. Picture / Reuters

TRINCOMALEE - Workers from a French aid group have recovered the bodies of 15 local colleagues found killed in a battle-scarred Sri Lankan town, taking them by tractor towards their families.

The French government angrily condemned the murders of staff from Action Contre La Faim (ACF) - Action Against Hunger in English - in the northeastern town of Mutur where they were working on rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami.

Rumours circulated for several days that the staff were dead, but with the town practically cut off it was not confirmed until the first aid mission in found them on Sunday on the floor of their office wearing ACF T-shirts.

The aid group said a post mortem would be carried out to determine how its 15 workers were killed.

"It would seem that it was rocket explosions or bullets to the head. We don't know. There are several versions. Perhaps some were killed by bullets and others by bombs. We will have more information in the coming hours," ACF executive director Benoit Miribel said in Paris.

The news shocked the tsunami aid community in the nearby northeastern port town of Trincomalee.

Most of the aid workers are now also helping thousands of newly displaced people who fled days of fighting in Mutur and elsewhere after a dispute over water prompted the first ground fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels since a 2002 ceasefire.

"For the time being, we have stopped all our activities in the area," said ACF head of mission Eric Fort. "Then we'll see what we'll do. For now, we have no idea who could have done this thing."

Pro-rebel website Tamilnet blamed the government for the killings, while the army pointed the finger at the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have fought for an ethnic Tamil homeland for two decades.

"The bodies were found by the army when the Tigers had taken control of certain pockets in the town and when they pulled back it was reported by civilians that they had robbed banks and killed indiscriminately," said Major Upali Rakjapakse, senior coordinator at the national security media centre.

"It could have happened during that time."

When Reuters and other media visited Mutur with the military on Saturday as firing continued in its suburbs, local commanders said they had reports the Tigers had killed Muslim civilians. But asked about other civilian losses, they did not mention the dead aid staff, of whom at least 14 were Tamil and one Muslim.

Hardline government allies from the majority Sinhalese community have long accused aid agencies of favouring Tamils and aiding the rebels. Angry mobs have attacked several aid agencies trying to move into the conflict area over several days.

In Paris, Action Contre La Faim said it might ask for help from the United Nations or Red Cross to uncover what had happened. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy condemned what he called "the appalling and cowardly murders".

- REUTERS

* An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that 17 aid workers had been killed.