Britain's foreign ministry says Sri Lanka must look into new allegations of war crimes, or face possible international action, after a video of the apparent killing of Tamil prisoners by government forces was aired in a UK documentary.
The Channel 4 programme also showed the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted by government forces.
"I was shocked by the horrific scenes," said Alistair Burt, a minister from the UK's foreign ministry. Burt said on Wednesday that a failure to probe the claims of human rights abuses at the end of the 26-year war with fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could lead to international action against Colombo. The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, says the video material is fabricated.
"Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" was aired on Tuesday and appeared to show the summary execution of Tamil prisoners by government soldiers during the end of the civil war in 2009.