Families blame army for aid workers' killing

Sri Lanka's government denies any involvement in the killing of the tsunami relief staff from international aid group Action Contre La Faim (ACF). The charity itself says it does not yet know who murdered its mainly Tamil staff.

"We believe it was the army," said 50-year-old Richard Arulrajah, whose 24 year-old son was among those shot dead. "On Friday he phoned and said he would be back by Saturday. After that, we heard the military personnel came and shot them."

Some Sri Lankan hardliners have in the past accused aid agencies of being pro-Tamil, ignoring the majority Sinhalese and backing the Tigers.

Other aid workers have been attacked by Sinhalese mobs in recent days, and troops had been under strain in heavy fighting. A precise cause for the massacre remains unclear.

Fighting between the military and the Tamil Tigers over water supplies entered a 14th day on Tuesday in the most serious outbreak of conflict since a 2002 ceasefire.

Outside the hospital in the northeastern port town of Trincomalee, where the bodies of the aid workers arrived late on Monday night, relatives wailed while policemen covered their noses and mouths with scarves against the stench of death.

The staff had travelled to the eastern town of Mutur last Tuesday by ferry from Trincomalee, aiming to return the same day. That afternoon, a Tiger attack on a troop convoy in the harbour trapped them there.

Before dawn on Wednesday, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched an assault into the town.