Sri Lanka’s main opposition party has described the deaths of 27 inmates after a prison riot as a “cold-blooded massacre” and demanded a parliamentary investigation into the incident.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera today left for three European countries to drum up support for island nation’s peace process, which has come under severe strain over a recent spike in violence and disagreement.

Sri Lanka’s government is ready to present a peace plan to the Tamil Tiger rebels, and is “baffled” by their reluctance to return to the negotiating table, a senior minister said today.