Rebel: Sri Lanka Army Kills 45 Civilians

Tamil Rebel Says Government Artillery Hit School Where Civilians Took Shelter

(AP)  Sri Lankan forces bombarding rebels with artillery on Wednesday hit a school where scores of civilians had taken refuge from the fighting, killing at least 45 Tamils and wounding 125 others in the country's east, a senior rebel official said.

The government accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of using civilians as human shields, and said its forces were only retaliating against intense rebel shelling.

Seevaratnam Puleedevan, who heads the rebels' Peace Secretariat, said the victims were Tamil civilians who had sought refuge in a school after a previous battle between government troops and the guerrillas. The rebels say they are fighting the government, dominated by the island nation's Sinhalese majority, on behalf of the Tamil minority.

"It was a big attack and we have 45 dead bodies," Puleedevan told The Associated Press by satellite phone. Puleedevan said 125 people were also wounded, some seriously.

Among the dead were six infants, the rebels said. A doctor who attended to some of the 56 injured people brought to nearby Valaichchenai hospital said most suffered broken bones and deep cuts. He spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

Wednesday's attack was the second-worst in terms of Tamil civilian casualties since the signing of a truce in 2002. On Aug. 14, an air raid allegedly killed 61 Tamil girls in the rebel stronghold Mullaitivu. At the time, the government said it had proof that the site was a rebel base, although rebels said the victims were school girls undergoing first aid training.

The worst single attack suffered by the Sri Lankan military was Oct. 16, when a rebel suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed truck into a military bus convoy in central Sri Lanka, killing at least 95 sailors and wounding more than 150.

Jehan Perera of National Peace Council, an independent think tank, warned that the incident may further worsen relations between the two sides and make any further cooperation "unrealistic."

"It shows that the government is placing its reliance on a military option. The government must think again because the cost to the civilian population is very high," Perera said.

Puleedevan, the rebel official, issued a warning.

"We still hope the international community will take strong action to stop such attacks, otherwise it may be too late," he said, referring to a tenuous cease-fire that halted the tropical island's two decades of civil war in 2002, but has come under tremendous strain with almost daily fighting.

Military spokesman Brig. Samarasinghe said exchange of artillery has been continuing in the area for the last few days. "This morning, they (rebels) intensified their artillery attack. Five of our soldiers were also wounded. We also retaliated to their attacks," he said.

Samarasinghe said he was not aware of the casualties in the rebel-held area and claimed the rebels were using civilians as human shields.

"Ground and technical sources confirm that tiger terrorists are using civilians as a human shield amid heavy artillery and mortar fire between the LTTE and the Security Forces," the Defense Ministry said on its Web site, calling the rebel group by the initials of its formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The rebels verbally hit back.

"The mindless and cruel attack on a helpless refugee population which has already been subjected to blockades of all sorts of essential items is difficult to understand," the rebels said on their Web site.

"Is it possible that the Sri Lankan military's intention was to teach the Tamils the lesson that they, the military, can kill refugees in such numbers, and no one can stop them?"

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, a group of foreigners overseeing the 2002 cease-fire, has said 1,076 civilians have been killed in violence in Sri Lanka since early this year.

Helen Olafsdottir, acting spokeswoman for the mission, said a group of monitors were on their way to investigate Wednesday's incident. But she refused to comment further.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka, citing discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. More than 65,000 people were killed before the truce. An upsurge in violence this year has killed more than 2,000 people, including civilians, soldiers and rebel fighters.

[pal16]

chandra55, your comment "if there is no ltte tamils would have been wiped out by the government" IS SIMILAR TO SAYING %u201Cif there is no al-qaeda, the US government will wipe out all Muslims in the world.%u201D
Come on chandra55%u2026GET REAL.
This type of LTTE propaganda does not work anymore. There are many Tamils speaking out now against LTTE terrorists, unlike in the beginning!

[pal16]

There is no attempt in my comment to clear the SL government of any wrongdoings. As a matter of fact, there are many situations where they did things that are totally unacceptable, and they should be held accountable.
However, there should be a democratic government in Sri Lanka with representation from all ethnic groups. It should take care of Tamil people's issues as well as others'. The government currently consists of people from Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, and other ethnic groups, and may be they should have more representation from the minorities.
The problem with terrorists like LTTE is that everything they do involves violence. They do all the things that you consider unethical and inhumane, and have very little desire to work together with others peacefully.
This group says it is representing Tamil people, but in reality they have killed and continue to kill more Tamils than the civilians getting accidentally killed in government operations against LTTE. This terrorist group always tries to provoke problems (riots) among millions of Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim people who prefer to live peacefully together.
Also, the LTTE is not POOR by any means, they have millions, if not billions, of dollars coming in from extortion and other illegal activities and from its sympathizers around the world.
In the LTTE controlled nothern/estern part of Sri Lanka, you either support the LTTE, or likely to get killed. Is this a good situation for the general public anywhere?

[chandra555]

poor man fights terrrorism rich man fights freedom.some one said some where

[chandra555]

indian ministers sent troops to india they came to my village took all the middle age men locked them up in a local library blown up the whole library along with the men. this is not the last story ..ask me i'll tell you a lot coz i'm a local citizen.i know it 's shocking just replying to colleagues comment above .if there is no ltte tamils would have been wiped out by the government.

[pal16]

The LTTLE rebels are a ruthless group of terrorists (banned in many countries) who have no respect for human lives. They have killed thousands of people from all ethnic groups (Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim) in Sri Lanka. So, when they talk about civilians getting killed, it is very funny.

This is a group breeding suicide bombers. They kidnap very young children (less than 10 years old) and (force) train them to be suicide bombers. This group of people will do any inhumane thing you can imagine. This is the group who killed Rajiv Gandhi (Indian prime minister).