Minister Senaratne made the remarks in an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service Sandeshaya.

He was speaking in response to a resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council that there must be an international investigation into what they charged was the mass killing of civilians during the closing stages of the war.
The proposal was put forward by the chief minister of the Northern Province VC Vigneswaran.

Minister Senaratne dismissed charges made by Vigneswaran that Tamil civilians were massacred at the hands of the army during the final stages of the war.

Vigneswaran had said that he will not abide by any internal investigation as pontificated by the new Sri Lanka government.

But Senaratne said the government cannot in any way acknowledge the mass killing of civilians as alleged by Vigneswaran.

Minister Senaratne said that civilian deaths in a war situation cannot in any way be attributed to accesses by the army.

“Mass killings are done deliberately and the army was not involved in deliberate killings”, said Senaratne.

He said the international community has understood that the LTTE had used human shields to safeguard their fighters.