The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today that it had examined over 200 photos taken on the front lines in early 2009 produced by a soldier from the Sri Lankan Air Mobile Brigade and had new witness accounts of troops shelling civilians.

Among the photos was a set of images which first showed an Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carder captured by the security forces and then showed him dead with a head injury.

HRW states, while it cannot conclusively determine that the man was summarily executed in custody, the available evidence suggests that a full investigation is warranted.

It accused Sri Lanka of consistently failing to probe allegations of rights abuses and urged the international community to insist on an independent investigation as demanded by the United Nations and many others.

Witnesses have told HRW about three other incidents in late April and early May 2009 of government forces shelling civilians, mainly women and children, who were standing in food distribution lines.

The witnesses have also described LTTE recruitment of children and LTTE attacks on civilians attempting to escape the war zone.

The report by the HRW was released days after the Brussels-based International Crisis Group saying it had fresh evidence of war crimes and urged the UN and Sri Lanka's aid donors to press for a probe.