TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Aug 8, 2006 (AFP) – Relatives Tuesday sprinkled perfumed water and buried aid workers gunned down inside their office in strife-torn northeastern Sri Lanka, while police maintained tight security. “I just want to get his remains now and give him a decent burial. There is nothing more I can do. He is already dead.” Widow S. Ganesh was burying her 54-year-old husband as well as daughter Kavitha, 27, both employees of the French charity Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim, ACF).
She collapsed at the seafront burial in the port city of Trincomalee.
The father and daughter were buried side by side in sealed coffins while security forces and police guarded the surrounding streets.
The hospital at Trincomalee began autopsies on the 17 aid workers gunned down at the weekend in the town of Muttur, 12.5 kilometres (7.5 miles) across the Koddiyar bay from Trincomalee.
Six were completed by late afternoon.
Relatives said doctors told them the victims had been shot dead.
Most of the victims, 13 men and four women aged 23 to 54, were engineers specialising in water sanitation and agronomy or project managers, ACF said.
The charity workers — all Sri Lankan nationals — were fo