Bodies of 15 workers from French aid agency to be exhumed next week amid ongoing probe

Associated Press, Sat October 16, 2006 06:12 EDT . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Authorities will next week exhume the bodies of 15 employees of a French aid organization executed in northeastern Sri Lanka - as part of an ongoing probe into the killings, the agency said Saturday. Australian forensic experts are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka - next week to provide technical advice and assist with the forensic investigation.

Nordic cease-fire monitors have said they are convinced that government troops were behind the killings because of the firm presence of soldiers in the town.

The government vehemently denied the charge, saying a post-mortem examination suggested the possible time of the killing was when the Tigers held the town for four days.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east.

A 2002 cease-fire temporarily halted large-scale hostilities but the last few months have seen the two sides engage in open warfare.