New video evidence has emerged linking Sri Lanka's military to the execution of prisoners during the final hours of the country's decades-long civil war last year, international human rights groups said yesterday.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the grisly content of a five-minute video clip aired by Britain's Channel 4 television last month warrants a United Nations investigation.
The video was an extension of a short clip aired by the station last year showing blindfolded, naked men being shot dead at close range. The latest video shows the naked body of a young woman with a blood-spattered face identified by Tamil media as "Isaippriya," a news reader with the Tamil Tiger rebel television station.
A dozen other men and women, some with hands tied behind their backs, also lay dead beside her.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said an acquaintance identified the body as Isaippriya. It said the video links the Sri Lankan army's 53rd division, which conducted the final battle with the boxed-in rebels on a small beach strip, with summary executions.
"This horrific new evidence demonstrates graphically that the Sri Lankan army engaged in summary executions of prisoners during the final days of fighting in May 2009," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"The government's failure to investigate these serious war crimes in the face of overwhelming evidence shows the need for an independent, international investigation," Adams said.
Sri Lanka's government said it "categorically denies that the Channel 4 News TV video is authentic."