47 Tamil Civilians killed as Army targets refugee camp
November 8th, 2006
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
At least 47 Tamil civilians were killed and more than 160 injured in the Batticaloa district coastal village of Kadiraweli in a barrage of artillery and MBRL rocket fire launched by the Sri Lankan Army stationed at the Kallara (Kallaru) military camp in Trincomalee district.
The 47 dead comprised 28 adult males, 9 women and 10 children. More than 160 were injured of whom 76, 57 and 36 were at the Vaaharai, Valaichenai and Batticaloa hospitals respectively. Those with comparatively less serious injuries are at the Vaaharai hospital while the more serious victims are at the other two hospitals.
The firing began at 11. 35 am on Wednesday November 8th and went on for 40 minutes till 12.10 pm.
According to Defence ministry circles the artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher barrage was a retaliatory measure as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had earlier in the morning fired artillery at the Serunuwara camp in Trincomalee district injuring five soldiers.
The Army had responded to this attack by launching an artillery barrage on the Batticaloa coastal village of Kadiraweli situated close to the Trincomalee district border.
The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) claims that the LTTE artillery fire came from Kadiraweli and tries to justify army action on those grounds.
The tragic reality however is that only innocent civilians mostly displaced Tamil people were killed and injured in the attacks.
Most of the victims were housed at the Internal Displaced Persons (IDP) camp at the Vigneshwara Vidyalayam school in Kadhiraweli.
[Internally Displaced People wounded in Sri Lanka Army artillery attack on IDP refuge at Kathiraveli Vigneswara School - TamilNet Photo]
It is reported that 6068 people from 1680 families were staying at the school camp and its environs at the time of the attack. The IDP numbers at Kadiraweli had swollen in the last few days as many people from Paalsenai, Panichankerni and Ooriyankattu had moved in due to constant shelling and bombing by the GOSL security forces.
According to Kadiraweli residents and IDP’s now at Batticaloa the artillery and MBRL barrage had commenced suddenly and without any warning. An Unmanned spy plane was scouring the skies above Kadiraraweli and Vaaharai as the firing was in progress.
” We suddenly heard artillery reports and saw a house nearby exploding and going up in flames. Before we realised what was happening another shell fell on our house” said an injured woman.
” The shells started falling rapidly on the school and nearby places. Everything exploded and burning. We ran screaming everywhere carrying our children” said another wounded man.
It is reported that of the children killed at least six were infants below the age of one.
Among the Thirty – six injured admitted to Batticaloa hospital sixteen are children.
Apart from the Vikneshwara school IDP camp and its environs about 120 dwellings consisting of houses, huts and tents in Kadirweli and Vaaharai had been hit in the artillery barrage.
The school buildings continued to burn till late in the evening.
Among places affected in Kadiraweli were the Sonobo childrens home run by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Twelve children in the Sonobo home were injured.
The crisis was aggravated further when shells fell within the vicinity of the Vaaharai hospital about 15 km away from Kadiraweli. The hospital is the only one catering to health needs in the LTTE controlled region of Koralaipattru North AGA division. It has only two doctors, an Italian national and another displaced from Eechilampattru AGA division in Trincomalee district.
Most of the victims in the attack were displaced persons from the Muthur East and Eechilampattru divisions in Trincomalee district. 31, 903 displaced people from 8441 families of Trincomalee are currently in the Vaaharai – Verugal region.
Some victims were residents of Kadiraweli and Vaaharai.There are about 10, 000 people liviving in the Koralaipattru North AGA division.
[Internally Displaced People wounded in Sri Lanka Army artillery attack on IDP refuge at Kathiraveli Vigneswara School - TamilNet Photo]
Many of the people and IDP’s in the region had been moving from place to place in recent times as the Sri Lankan security forces had been shelling and bombing the area regularly during the past weeks.
Though most of the shelling had come from the Mankerny, Cadjuwatte, Karadikuli and Valaichenai paper factory camps the massacre of innocents on Wednesday was caused by firing from the Kallara camp in Trincomalee district.
The affected region was virtually cut off from the rest of the Country with Defence Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapakse refusing access to NGO”s and other organizations.Only the ICRC and UNHCR was allowed limited access.
The problem had worsened from October 20th when all food distribution was suspended. Earlier food was sent twice a week from Batticaloa under the World Food Program scheme.
From November 1st all transport to and from the region was stopped at the Mankerni entry point.
The GOSL first refused to allow ICRC and SLMM monitors in to Vaaharai for several hours. The SLMM and ICRC went in only at about 5 pm.
After blocking initially for some hours the GOSL allowed ambulances to go in and bring out the wounded. Eight ambulances brought the victims out to Batticaloa and Valaichenai.
The SLMM spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir said that the SLMM had initially counted 23 bodies at Vaaharai. She also confirmed to the media that the artillery firing had come from the army but declined to pinpoint the location at this stage.
Army spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told the BBC that there had been exchanges of artillery fire between GOSL forces and the LTTE.
The Army websites alleged that the LTTE was using refugees as a human shield.
There were also unconfirmed reports that the LTTE was preventing terrified civilians from leaving the region and moving into GOSL areas for safety.
Meanwhile The Amnesty International has issued a stern statement on the incident and called for an immediate inquiry. The AI statement is reproduced in full below.
AI Index: ASA 37/033/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 290
8 November 2006
Sri Lanka: Amnesty International calls for inquiry into attack on
displaced civilians
Amnesty International is deeply concerned by reports of the killing today of as many as 65 civilians taking refuge in a school in Kathiraveli, a coastal hamlet 15 km north of Vaharai in the eastern district of Batticaloa.
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) reportedly fired multi-barrel rockets and artillery shells which hit a school where internally displaced people (IDPs) were taking shelter. As many as 40 bodies are reported to have been recovered from the scene and more than 100 have been wounded. It is likely that many more may have been injured as the area targeted was densely populated and inhabited by some 5000 IDPs.
Amnesty International is appalled that the military should attack a camp for displaced people — these were civilians who had already been forced from their homes because of the conflict. Amnesty International condemns all attacks on civilians and is 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.
A Sri Lankan military spokesman has confirmed heavy artillery and mortar bomb exchanges in Batticaloa district, but has accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of using civilians as human shields. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 60,646 people remained displaced in Batticaloa district alone, as of 23 October 2006, and over 200,000 have been displaced in the north and east of Sri Lanka since 7 April 2006.
Amnesty International condemns the targeting and killing of innocent civilians and calls on the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to take immediate and adequate precautions to protect civilian lives. All parties to the hostilities must comply with international humanitarian law, which prohibits murder or other violence to those taking no active part in hostilities, requires parties to ensure that their forces comply with the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets and do not target civilians or carry out indiscriminate attacks.
Amnesty International calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to initiate an immediate inquiry by international and independent human rights experts into this incident and all serious violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law. Amnesty International reiterates the urgent need for the Government of Sri Lanka to establish a strong and effective international human rights monitoring operation as a matter of urgency to respond to the dramatic deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation. Such a mechanism must have the full cooperation of both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and the support of the United Nations and its member states.
AI Index: ASA 37/033/2006 8 November 2006
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