Video apparently¹ showing extra-judicial killings² by Sri Lankan troops is genuine, a UN envoy³ has said.

一位联合国特使称，一段显示斯里兰卡军队法外杀戮的录像是真实的。

UN special rapporteur文书，书记 Philip Alston said three independent experts had confirmed the video was authentic⁴可信的，真实的, renewing calls for a war crime inquiry⁵.

The footage - which Sri Lanka says is fabricated组合的，捏造的 - shows a man dressed as a soldier shooting a man in the head.

It was allegedly filmed in January during the final stages of the bloody⁶ conflict with Tamil Tigers rebels.

The government in Colombo said it concluded the video was fake after conducting its own investigation⁷.

Bodies on ground

But Mr Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, told reporters: "The conclusion clearly is that the video is authentic."

He said the video had been examined by three US-based independent investigators⁸.

He named them as Peter Diaczuk, an expert in firearms evidence, Daniel Spitz, a prominent突出的，显著的 forensic⁹辩论的，法院的 pathologist病理学家, and Jeff Spivack, an expert in forensic video analysis.

At the same time he noted¹⁰ that there were "a small number of characteristics of the video which the experts were unable to explain".

"Each of these characteristics can, however, be explained in a manner entirely¹¹ consistent with the conclusion that the videotape appears to be authentic," he added.

The UN official also called on the Sri Lankan government to hold an independent inquiry into possible war crimes committed by both sides of the conflict.

It is not clear where the footage, which also shows other bodies on the ground, was taken.

The video was provided to the BBC and other media organisations by a group called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which said it showed "the reality of the behaviour of the government forces during the war".

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka said the video had been taken in January 2009 using a mobile phone.

Sri Lankan troops finally defeated the Tamil Tigers last May - after nearly 40 years of ethnic¹² bloodshed流血，杀戮 that left more than 70,000 people dead.