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Aid worker deaths: Rebels blamed

Fifteen aid workers found 'executed'

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Sri Lankan armored army vehicles conduct a patrol near the town of Trincomalee.

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Sri Lanka has accused Tamil Tiger rebels of being behind the deaths of 15 aid workers and a number of civilians in Mutur near the northeastern port city of Trincomalee.

The bodies -- 11 male and 4 female -- were found Sunday after government forces regained control of the city, following days of fighting with the rebels.

The victims -- most of whom had been shot to death -- were doing post-tsunami relief work for a French agency.

"We have detailed a special police team to conduct investigations into (the) civilian killings," said Keheliya Rambukwella, a government minister and defense spokesman.

"We have evidence to show that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were responsible for the massacre of the NGO (nongovernmental organization) workers and a large number of civilians."

Jeevan Thiagarajah, the head of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, said all 15 aid workers were shot at close range. He called their deaths "murder."

The government has requested the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), a group of Scandinavian nationals monitoring the truce, to investigate the site of the massacres.

"We have eye witness accounts from people who fled the area," he said.

SLMM spokesman Omarsson Thorfinnur said the group had received no government request as of midday, however, he said, "it is possible we may get it today."

The discovery follows fierce fighting in a reservoir dispute between government troops and Tamil rebels.

The rebels had blocked the flow of water from a reservoir in Mavil Aru in eastern Sri Lanka to more than 30,000 acres of paddy ready for harvest.

Nearly 2,000 government troops have been engaged in a week-long operation to gain control of the sluice gates. Twenty-six soldiers, including two officers, have been killed and more than 42 wounded since the offensive began.

The Tigers have been seeking their own Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island nation, which lies to the south of India.

Despite a 2002 cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers, violence in Sri Lanka has escalated this year.

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