TRINCOMALEE, Aug 7: Workers from a French aid group on Monday recovered the bodies of 17 local colleagues found killed in a battle-scarred Sri Lankan town, taking them by tractor on Monday towards their families.

The French government angrily condemned the murders of staff from Action Contre La Faim (ACF) — Action Against Hunger in English — in the north-eastern town of Mutur where they were working on rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami.

Rumours circulated for several days that the staff were dead, but with the town practically cut off it was not confirmed until the first aid mission in found them on Sunday on the floor of their office wearing ACF T-shirts.

The aid group said a post mortem would be carried out to determine how its 17 workers were killed.

“It would seem that it was rocket explosions or bullets to the head. We don’t know. There are several versions. Perhaps some were killed by bullets and others by bombs. We will have more information in the coming hours,” ACF executive director Benoit Miribel told Reuters Television in Paris.

The news shocked the tsunami aid community in the nearby north-eastern port town of Trincomalee.

Most of the aid workers are now also helping thousands of newly displaced people who fled days of fighting in Mutur and elsewhere after a dispute over water prompted the first ground fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels since a 2002 ceasefire.

“For the time being, we have stopped all our activities in the area,” said ACF head of mission Eric Fort. —Reuters