Gov't cleared in French volunteers' deaths

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, July 14 (UPI) -- A Sri Lankan commission says there was no involvement by government forces in the deaths of 17 French charity workers in the country's northeast.

The Sri Lankan newspaper The Island reported Tuesday that the Commission of Inquiry concluded no government forces were in the vicinity on Aug. 4, 2006, when 13 men and four women working for the French group Action Against Hunger, or ACF, were killed, Radio France Internationale said.

"The evidence does not disclose the presence of the commandos anywhere near the ACF office during the period, that is, on the morning afternoon or evening of the 4th," the newspaper quoted the commission report to President Mahinda Rajapakse as saying.

The commission's findings refute the assertions of Norwegian peace monitors, who blamed the killings on government forces, RFI said.

The commission reportedly noted that the area had come under attack from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, and asserts that ACF officials "stubbornly" refused to allow their workers to flee as fighting intensified.