Colombo, March 23 (IANS): A section of Tamils staged protests in Sri Lanka's north on Monday against a proposed domestic investigation on human rights abuses during the country's civil war.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) led by Gajen Ponnambalam said the demonstration took place in eight districts in the country's north and east, reports Xinhua.

Over 100 people, including families of those reported missing during the war that ended in 2009, took part in the protest in the northern town of Jaffna. They demanded an international investigation into the abuses.

The Sri Lankan government has said it will launch a domestic investigation into the war and has begun setting up the mechanisms for the process.

The UN Human Rights Council has backed the efforts of the new government and had delayed the release of a report on the war in Sri Lanka complied by a UN investigations team.

Some Tamil groups say they have no faith in the proposed domestic investigation based on past experiences and want the UN to continue with its international investigation and make the report public soon.

Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in almost three decades of civil war that erupted in 1983 between the government troops and the Tamil Tigers.

The military vanquished the Tigers in 2009.