Lanka execution video

UNITED NATIONS: Independent experts have concluded that video footage allegedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing prisoners during the final phase of their battle against Tamil Tiger rebels last year was authentic, a UN envoy said on Thursday. The video, aired on Britain's Channel 4 last August, "is authentic," Philip Halston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions told reporters here. He said the conclusion was reached by three independent experts and called for a "genuine and independent investigation" by the Sri Lankan government. He noted that when the video showing the execution of a number of Tamil Tiger militants "stripped naked, bound and blindfolded and shot in the head by semi-automatic weapons" was shown, the Colombo government dismissed it as "a fake" and "propaganda" by the separatist LTTE.

DHAKA: Bangladesh is set to sign a prisoner exchange deal with India that will legalise the transfer of key separatist leaders its larger neighbour accuses of terrorism, Dhaka's foreign minister said on Thursday. A new agreement to combat international terrorism will also be signed during Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's upcoming four-day visit to New Delhi starting on Sunday, which will focus on security issues, Dipu Moni said. The announcement follows reports that Bangladeshi authorities have secretly handed over top-ranking separatist leaders from ULFA to India.