DHAKA: A government-appointed Sri Lankan judge says allegations the army committed war crimes during the long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels are ‘credible’.

He was leading the first government inquiry into the atrocities, one month after the UN released its own findings.

President Maithripala Sirisena has already vowed to set up a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate further.

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead.

The UK’s Channel 4 and the UN have documented numerous atrocities committed during the war, with one investigation saying up to 40,000 people may have been in killed in the final five months alone.

Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.

Retired judge Maxwell Paranagama told Sri Lanka’s parliament on Tuesday there were ‘credible allegations which... may show that some members of the armed forces committed acts during the final phase of the war that amounted to war crimes giving rise to individual criminal responsibility’.

He went to say there was evidence to suggest that footage obtained by the Channel 4 documentary No Fire Zone - showing prisoners naked, blindfolded, with arms tied and shot dead by soldiers - was genuine.

Sri Lanka’s military at the time had dismissed the documentary as a fabrication.

BDST: 1240 HRS, OCT 21, 2015
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