New photos allege Sri Lanka war abuse, govt denies

Dubai-based Aljazeera television aired images of a pile of dead bodies and execution type killings saying they were taken during the final stages of the war between the government troops and the LTTE that ended in May last year.

However, the television channel said they obtained the images from an unnamed source and is unable to verify the authenticity of the photos.

After the appearance of images today on the channel, Sri Lanka the report, saying that this is an attempt by pro-LTTE elements to tarnish security forces image.

Issuing a press release the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said, "By these campaigns pro-LTTE elements are in an attempt to tarnishing the image of the security forces and the government of Sri Lanka."

The MCNS said, "It is a similar kind of attempt with an aim of tarnishing the image of the valiant government troops as well as deteriorating the process of the Lesson Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)".

The Sri Lankan government this week extended the mandate of the LLRC, a panel appointed to examine events during the war and make recommendations to avoid such repetition, by six months.

The panel started its hearing in North today and the government denied access to the BBC to cover the proceedings without giving any reasons to do so,the BBC reported