Determine if massacre video is old or new: Karunanidhi

Chennai, Aug 29 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has asked the central government to find out if a video showing naked Tamil youths being shot dead by suspected Sri Lankan troops is a new or an old clip.

"Some say it is an old video. It is for the central government to come out with a clarification," Karunanidhi told reporters here.
The film was released by a grouping of Sri Lankan journalists based in the West. It was apparently shot in January at an unspecified location.
It showed uniformed men said to be Sri Lankan soldiers shooting two naked, blindfolded and tied young men believed to be Tamils from close range.

The film, widely shown on international television channels, also showed the bodies of more naked men, shot dead similarly. Only one body was fully clothed.

Sri Lanka has said the video is a fake and meant to sully the image of the military, which crushed the Tamil Tigers in May, ending one of the world's longest running insurgencies.

Asked about the nearly 300,000 Tamil civilian in refugee camps in Sri Lanka since the conflict ended, Karunanidhi said: "We have been urging the prime minister and the external affairs minister to take necessary action on this front.

"The union government must show more interest. The union ministers and MPs from Tamil Nadu are also urging the centre to take immediate action."

He said that tonnes of relief material sent by the state government for the displaced Tamils had reached the island for distribution.