Colombo: An international aid group urged leading donor nations today to jointly investigate the 2006 massacre of 17 of its workers in eastern Sri Lanka.

Action against Hunger invited the European Union, France, Norway, the United States and Japan to join Sri Lanka in forming an inquiry into the killings in Muttur.

The group closed its Colombo office and left the country March 31 following the resignation of an international panel of experts monitoring the government's commission of inquiry into the deaths, saying it had no faith in the government investigation.

"This specific tool is today the only way to obtain the truth regarding the Muttur massacre," the group said in a statement today.

Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe responded that there was no need for an international probe.

"The commission of inquiry appointed by the president continues to function. We are hopeful that it will soon forward recommendations for the government to act," Samarasinghe said.

Seventeen local workers for Action Against Hunger were found killed execution-style in Muttur in August 2006 amid heavy fighting between government soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels.

European monitors who were in Sri Lanka at the time blamed the security forces for the aid workers killings. The government denied the allegation and blamed the rebels.

University Teachers for Human Rights, a respected local human rights group, investigated the incident and issued a report in April accusing police and paramilitary forces of shooting the victims as they knelt on the ground and begged for their lives.

Source : PTI