Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's government rejected a report by international truce monitors that blamed the army for the killing of 17 aid workers, saying their conclusions lack ``any factual evidence.''

There are ``very strong indications'' security forces were involved in the deaths of the workers from the French aid group Action Against Hunger in the northeastern town of Muttur this month, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said yesterday.

``The government regrets the unprofessional and rather irresponsible stand taken by the head of the SLMM,'' it said in a statement posted early today on the Defense Ministry Web site. ``The head of the SLMM has derived specific conclusions even before investigations and forensic examination of evidence have been concluded.''

The deaths of the aid workers occurred as Sri Lanka experienced its worst fighting between the government and rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam since 2002. The two sides this month fought for control of Muttur, near the northeastern port of Trincomalee, and clashes spread to the northern Jaffna peninsula, cutting roads and leaving the region's 500,000 residents facing food and water shortages.

The SLMM blamed the army for landmine attacks in rebel-held territory from April through mid-June. Tamil Tigers were behind a bus bombing in June that killed 60 civilians, it said.

The incidents are a ``gross violation'' of the truce by the government and the LTTE, said Swedish Brigadier General Ulf Henricsson, the outgoing head of the monitoring mission.

``I urge both parties to the cease-fire agreement to put an end to all forms of attacks,'' he said.

Hasty Conclusions

Henricsson has ``rushed to hasty conclusions on what is clearly a most reprehensible attack on these aid workers,'' the government's Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process said. ``This may be a unique occasion in which a monitoring mission has made a determination and subsequently requested that an investigation be conducted to establish the facts.''

Paris-based Action Against Hunger, working in Sri Lanka's tsunami- and war-ravaged northeast, said it is considering whether to continue operations on the island. The workers were found dead Aug. 6.

``The possibility that international organizations might permanently depart contested areas in the north and east has fueled fears among civilians for their safety,'' Human Rights Watch said earlier this month.

Monitors Leave

European Union members of the SLMM are withdrawing because the Tamil Tigers set a Sept. 1 deadline to leave after the EU in May designated the group a terrorist organization. The rebels' demand affects 39 of the 57 members of the mission, which includes EU members Sweden, Denmark and Finland, as well as Norway and Iceland. Norwegian and Icelandic monitors will remain.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week appealed to the rebels to return to peace talks. An end to fighting must include the removal of the threat by LTTE forces in the Sampoor area near Trincomalee, he said.

Sri Lanka's 2002 cease-fire accord will collapse unless the army stops its offensive in Sampoor, Irasaiah Ilanthirayan, a spokesman for the LTTE, said two days ago, according to TamilNet, a Web site that carries the group's statements.

More than 200,000 people have fled their homes because of fighting in Sri Lanka since April, the United Nations said last week. It appealed yesterday for $37.5 million in aid to provide food, water and protection for displaced people.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for two decades for a separate homeland in northern and eastern parts of the country, in a conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people. The LTTE wants an interim self-government established in areas it controls before a peace settlement is reached.

Sri Lanka's $24 billion economy has had uninterrupted growth since the 2002 truce, brokered by Norway, went into effect.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at anushao@bloomberg.net; Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 30, 2006 19:46 EDT