Guyana seeks US forensic assistance

The Guyanese Government has turned to the United States for forensic assistance in the investigation into the murders of eight miners last Saturday.



President Bharrat Jagdeo said his administration intends to probe the matter fully to get all the available information and to bring the perpetrators to justice.



He said the request for forensic pathology assistance has already been made and is being processed at the US Embassy in the capital, Georgetown.



The burnt bodies of the men were found in their mining camp in the Berbice River, near the area where members of the Joint Forces have been searching for the country\'s most wanted man, Rondell \'Fineman\' Rawlins and his gang.



The men are believed to be responsible for two massacres in Bartica and Lusignan earlier this year that left 23 persons dead.



The Guyana Police Force said ballistics tests done on spent shells found at the scene of the crime, matched those found at a number of other incidents, including the Bartica and Lusignan attacks.



A local pathologist, who carried out tests on some of the skulls found at the site, also concluded that the miners were beaten in their heads with hammers.