40 civilian refugees killed in Sri Lankan artillery attack
Emergency Rescue workers in Vaharai say scores of civilians were killed Wednesday around 11:35 a.m. when Sri Lanka Army fired Multi-Barrel Rockets and artillery shells targeting Kathiraveli, a coastal hamlet 15 km north of Vaaharai, hit a school where five thousand Internally Displaced People had sought refuge. 40 dead bodies have been recovered. Six babies below 6-month were killed, said medical sources stating that 30 dead bodies had been brought to Vaaharai hospital. SLMM officials and the ICRC visited the area where more than 120 houses were severely damaged. An area with 2 km perimeter was indiscriminately bombed. 60 severely wounded civilians were brought to Valaichenai hospital.
2 civilians succumbed to their wounds while being transferred to Valaichenai.
Many of the civilians wounded in were struggling without medical facilities as the only hospital in Vaharai was also targeted by the artillery attack.
Patients in Vaharai hospital were forced to flee the hospital following the attack.
"An indiscriminate artillery and MBRL onslaught has continued for more than 30 minutes on Kathiraveli Vigneswara Vidyalayam killing and wounding tens of innocent IDPs," M. Raj, a TRO rescue worker said.
The school is located in a densely populated area.
Vaaharai region has been completely blocked for NGO access. There was no transportation for patients to be treated, the emergency rescue worker added.
Around 1600 families were staying in the IDP camp located at Kathiraveli school. Following the aerial and artillery attack on Paalchenai, more than 2000 IDP persons had arrived at the school during the past 72 hours.
ICRC, SLMM and UNICEF were informed of the attack. Despite the information, they were blocked by the Sri Lanka Army to enter the area, initial reports said. Later, the officials managed to reach Vaharai.
Panic striken people attempted to block ICRC officials from leaving the area fearing further artillery attacks.
NGO workers in Vaharai said they were trying to transport wounded civilians towards the entry/exit points although the SLA was initially not allowing the wounded to be transported in public vehicles.
Later, the SLA soldiers cooperated with the ICRC in transporting the wounded to Valaichenai and Batticaloa hospital.
There is only a single ambulance vehicle which is yet to return to Vaharai hospital.
The massive artillery and MBRL onslaught was launched while Sri Lanka Air Force reconnaissance aircrafts were engaged in operation, according to the initial reports.
pics(oh god
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the Sl army still denies permission for taking these wounded children to the main hospital in baticalo!!!
edit :some more recent pictures
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Quote:
Amnesty condemns "terrible" attack on displaced civilians
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 22:08 GMT]
Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director Purna Sen, condemning the Sri Lankan military attack on displaced civilian camp in Vaaharai region on Wednesday, in a press statement said it was shocked to see such a large-scale attack on civilians just days after the government's announcement of its Commission of Inquiry into human rights abuses. The Human Rights watchdog has called on the Sri Lankan government to investigate the "terrible attack as a matter of urgency and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice to signal to the rest of the military that attacking civilians will not be tolerated."
Internally Displaced People wounded in Sri Lanka Army artillery attack on IDP refuge at Kathiraveli Vigneswara School.
Full text of the Press Release issued by the Amnesty International follows:
AI Index: ASA 37/032/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 288
8 November 2006
Attack on displaced civilians must be investigated
At least 50 people have died and over 100 have been injured after an attack on a camp for internally displaced people in Batticaloa, Eastern Sri Lanka, according to Tamil Tiger sources. In response, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director Purna Sen said:
"It is appalling that the military should attack a camp for displaced people -- these are civilians who have already been forced from their homes because of the conflict."
"We condemn all attacks on civilians and are particularly saddened and shocked to see such a large-scale attack on civilians just days after the government's announcement of its Commission of Inquiry into human rights abuses."
"Killing and injuring civilians can never be justified. The government must investigate this terrible attack as a matter of urgency. It must ensure that those responsible are brought to justice to signal to the rest of the military that attacking civilians will not be tolerated."
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link for the statement by the amnesty international
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA370322006
From BBC news
Quote:
Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians'
A wounded child being treated at hospital
At least 45 civilians have been killed in eastern Sri Lanka after army shells hit a camp for people displaced by the fighting, Tamil Tiger rebels say.
Independent monitors who visited the scene confirm that many people were killed or injured. They say the attack seems to have come from army areas.
Another 125 were wounded in the shelling in the Vakarai region, rebel spokesman S Puleedevan told the BBC.
The army accused rebels of using civilians as human shields in the area.
Ceasefire monitors from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) say they have counted 23 bodies, and there could be many more.
"It seems a school where some internally-displaced people were residing has been hit in the attack," an SLMM spokesperson said.
"We can confirm lots of people are dead," the spokesperson said. "The numbers are unclear, but initial reports show 50 to 60 people have been killed. The injured could number several hundred."
Tamil Tiger rebels say the number of deaths could be as high as 100.
Military spokesman Brig Samarasinghe said there had been "heavy artillery" exchanges in the Batticaloa area.
'Massive incident'
The government agent for Batticaloa, S Puniyamoorthy, said more than 1,000 refugees were living in the camp - a school building in the town of Kathiraveli near Vakarai.
The injured have been taken to a hospital in Vakarai
According to reports, bombs fell in the area for about an hour around midday.
A doctor at a local hospital, Muthulingam Atchuthan, said he had been told about a "massive incident" and that he had dispatched 10 ambulances and a bus to recover casualties.
The Red Cross said their aid workers have seen 18 corpses, Reuters news agency reports. They said 50 wounded had been taken to a hospital in Vakarai.
Brig Samarasinghe said the two sides had been exchanging artillery fire in the area for the past few days.
"This morning, the rebels intensified their attack. Five of our soldiers were wounded. We also retaliated," he said.
Sri Lanka's defence ministry later suggested that there may have been civilian casualties when troops retaliated after rebel shelling.
"The Tigers had been planning this situation since the beginning of this month by detaining the innocent civilians in those areas by force to be used as a human shield when the time arises," a statement said.
Violence
The government and the SLMM, a group of European observers overseeing a 2002 ceasefire which now exists only in name, say more than 3,000 civilians have been killed in violence since the beginning of this year.
The Tigers and the Sri Lankan military have clashed several times in the recent days since peace talks collapsed in Geneva in late October.
The Sri Lankan air force has repeatedly shelled Tiger areas since the failure of the talks.
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the link for the above posted BBC article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6128094.stm