A top UN official says he believes video footage showing Sri Lankan soldiers summarily executing Tamils during clashes last year is authentic. The video shows what appear to be Sri Lankan soldiers killing unarmed, naked and blindfolded Tamils. Sri Lanka has dismissed the videos as a forgery. But on Thursday, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Philip Alston, said the tape is authentic and called for an independent inquiry.

UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings Philip Alston: “The conclusion clearly is that the videotape is authenticate. I have therefore called upon the government of Sri Lanka to respond to these allegations. And the conclusion that I’ve reached is the following: In light of the persistent flow of other allegations of extrajudicial executions committed by both sides during the closing phases of the war against the LTTE, I call for an independent inquiry to be established to carry out an impartial investigation into war crimes and other grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law allegedly committed in Sri Lanka.”