``There is no turning back, we are indeed going,'' Yasantha Kodagoda, state counsel in the case, told AP in Colombo.

The confirmation came after the top Tamil rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ordered the closure of courts in the northern city of Jaffna, saying it wanted international human rights groups, not local courts, to investigate the mass grave allegations. A Jaffna magistrate had been overseeing the case.

Following the LTTE order, courts in Jaffna have been closed until May. Jaffna, a Tamil-majority town, was an LTTE stronghold until the government captured the peninsula. The rebels often enter Jaffna from surrounding jungles to carry out attacks.

``We mayrequest a Jaffna magistrate to meet us in his chamber and accompany us to the alleged site with armed guards,'' Kodagoda said.

``If he is unwilling to hold his court in his chamber or even come with us, we will go on our own,'' he said, adding it was not mandatory that a magistrate be present during the initial investigation, which is to start on Friday.

``However, if and when we start the actual digging then a magistrate must be there. But then we are not going to do any actual digging on March 5,'' he said. It was not clear when the excavation would begin.

The government first ordered an inquiry in July into the allegations. But work was delayed, the government says, because of floods and difficulties finding specialist investigators.

The international human rights group, Amnesty International, has accused the government of stalling the investigation.

In its latest human rights report, the US State Department accused both the Sri Lankan military and the Tigers of killing non-combatants during thecivil war.