Vaharai Bombing

The Vaharai bombing is a disputed event in the Sri Lankan civil war. It occurred on November 7, 2006 when, according to survivors of the incident interviewed by Reuters, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fired artillery at Sri Lankan military personnel from near a school where minority Sri Lankan Tamil refugees displaced by the current phase of the Sri Lankan civil war had taken shelter.cite news|url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/061110/137/69950.html| date= 2006-11-10|title=Sri Lanka says sinks rebel boats, Tamil MP killed |publisher=Reuters| accessdate =2006-11-11 ] The Sri Lankan Army returned fire and around 45cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6128094.stm| date= 2006-11-08|title=Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians' |publisher=BBC World Service| accessdate = 2006-11-19 ] civilians were killed. Over 100 were injured and admitted to the local hospitals. However, people who were interviewed by Human Rights Watch claimed that the LTTE did not even fire artillery. Further, the rebel LTTE denies firing artillery from close to the school. The incident occurred at around 11.35 a.m close to Kathiraveli, a coastal village in Vaharai peninsula of the Batticaloa district in eastern Sri Lanka.

The incident

The LTTE claimed the shelling killed 43 displaced Tamil civilians who had been taking shelter after the recent flare up of the Sri Lankan civil war. However the SLMM counted 23 bodies. About 300 were wounded, 127 of them seriously. Many were killed when two shells hit school buildings housing a large number civilians.cite web
url = http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1063199
title = Lanka gov’t ‘regrets’ killing 65 civilians
accessdate = 2006-11-14
date = November 9, 2006
publisher = DNA World
quote = Keheliya Rambukwella said ‘the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission had reported seeing 23 bodies after the rockets had been fired into two school buildings housing a large number of displaced Tamil civilians’] Shelling also damaged the ‘Sonobo Infants Home’ seriously injuring nearly 12 infants.cite web
url = http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/3097
title = Sri Lanka military reported to have killed 65 civilians
accessdate = 2006-11-14
date = November 9, 2006
publisher = Asiantribune.com] The town [http://www.mapygon.com/sri-lanka/eastern/kathiraveli/ Kathiraveli] in the Vaharai region is mainly populated by minority Sri Lankan Tamils and indigenous Vedda people. It was under the de facto control of the LTTE rebels.

The Sri Lankan government responded saying that the refugees housed within the school were being used as human shields by the LTTE. The Nordic ceasefire monitors, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, said they did not see any LTTE military installations nearby.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6131566.stm| date= 2006-11-09|title=Anger over Lanka civilian deaths |publisher=BBC World Service| accessdate = 2006-11-19 ] However the government's account was supported by survivors of the incident who had fled the area and subsequently taken shelter in government controlled territory. Reuters reported one survivor saying, "First I heard big guns fired (by the LTTE) from the camp area. I jumped into a bunker. Then the army returned fire and I heard big explosions in the camp."cite news|url=http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-10T143450Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-275732-3.xml&archived=False| date= 2006-11-10|title=Sri Lanka says sinks rebel boats, Tamil MP killed |publisher=Reuters| accessdate =2006-11-11 ] However, Human Rights Watch conducted interviews with 12 witnesses to the attack. All witnesses said that there were no LTTE fighters located in or adjacent to the IDP camp at the time of the attack or directly before. They also reported that the nearest LTTE military base was the Sinnakangai camp on the coast about two kilometers away. None of the interviewees had seen or heard outgoing shelling earlier that day. Another women who lived near the IDP camp claimed “Before the shelling I heard nothing. It was sudden, we didn’t expect it”. Another man whose children were wounded in the shelling said that there was no LTTE present near the camp and he did not hear any shelling from the LTTE.cite news|url=http://hrw.org/reports/2007/srilanka0807/4.htm#_Toc173322248| date= |title=Attack at the Kathiravelli School |publisher=Human Rights Watch| accessdate = 2007-08-11 ]

Reactions

* cite news
url = http://uk.news.yahoo.com/09112006/323/photo/sri-lankan-tamil-mps-colombo-protest-against-artillery-attack.html
date = 2006-11-09
title = Sri Lankan Tamil MPs in Colombo protest against the artillery attack
publisher = AFP
accessdate = 2006-11-09] and handed over a petition to the UN offices demanding intervention to protect refugees in the island's troubled areas. "We urge your good selves to take immediate action regarding this matter and take steps to safeguard the internally displaced Tamil speaking people and other civilians" the legislators told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. [cite web
url = http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2006/11/9255.html
title = Sri Lanka regrets killing of civilians
accessdate = 2006-11-14
date = November 9, 2006
publisher = lankanewspapers.com] Subsequently a Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, Nadarajah Raviraj who had demonstrated in front of the UN offices was shot and killed in Colombo.cite news
url = http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/10/asia/AS_GEN_Sri_Lanka_Attack.php
date = 2006-11-09|title=Tamil member of Parliament killed in Sri Lankan capital
publisher = Associated Press
accessdate = 2006-11-09] cite news
url = http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-10T143450Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-275732-3.xml&archived=False
date = 2006-11-10
title = Sri Lanka says sinks rebel boats, Tamil MP killed
publisher = Reuters
accessdate =2006-11-11]
* - There was widespread anger amongst the Tamil community in Sri Lanka . The Tamil Tigers said in a statement on their website. "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?" [cite web
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/world/asia/09lanka.html?fta=y
title = Artillery Fire Kills 23 Civilians and Wounds 135 in Sri Lanka
accessdate = 2006-11-14
date = November 9, 2006
publisher = New York Times]
* The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, deplored the incident and pondered "how long it could tolerate the Sri Lankan Army's atrocities against Tamils there."cite news
url = http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200611092032.htm
date= 2006-11-09
title = Karunanidhi deplores shelling by Lankan forces |publisher=Press Trust of India
accessdate = 2006-11-09]
* |title=Sri Lanka: United Nations condemns indiscriminate use of force |publisher=United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs| accessdate = 2006-11-09 ]
* Amnesty International - The international human rights group urged the government of Sri Lanka to investigate the attack on the civilians as matter of urgency. Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director Purna Sen said in a press release, “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…. 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”cite news|url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA370322006| date= 2006-11-08|title=Sri Lanka: Attack on displaced civilians must be investigated |publisher=Amnesty International Press Release | accessdate = 2006-11-09 ]
* |title=Military Attack in Eastern Sri Lanka|publisher=US State Department Press Release | accessdate = 2006-11-09 ]
* - A spokesman said they evacuated 74 wounded from a hospital in the rebel-held area to a government-controlled area.
* The Humanitarian Law Project in a letter to UN High Commissioner, severely condemned the actions of the Sri Lankan army and considered the artillery attack on the Vaharai refugee camp a "war crime".cite news|url=http://www.tamilcanadian.com/tc_images/world/na/Letter_to_HRHC_10_November_2006_Address.pdf?u=sitemade| date= 2006-11-09|title=Letter to United Nations High Commissioner |publisher=Humanitarian Law Project Letter | accessdate = 2006-11-09 ]

Accusations of blocked humanitarian aid

The LTTE political head for the Trincomalee district claimed "The Government has already blocked the relief assistance to the internally displaced persons in Vaharai area. They were provided dry rations under the United Nation’s World Food Program and that was too stopped for three weeks." In addition, the LTTE accused the Sri Lankan government of preventing ambulances carrying the injured to pass military checkpoints for nearly 3 hours.cite news|url=http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=20209| date= 2006-11-09|title=SLA denied transport to Vaharai injured for 3 hours- Elilan |publisher=Tamilnet| accessdate = 2006-11-09 ]

ee also

*Navaly Church bombing
*Chencholai bombing
*Padahuthurai bombing
*Nagerkovil central school bombing
*St.Phillip Neri church bombing

References

External links

* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1784269.htm/ Sri Lankan military shelling kills 65 civilians rebels; abc.net.au; November 9, 2006]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200611/s1785100.htm/ Sri Lanka voices regret over civilian deaths; abc.net.au; November 9, 2006]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6128094.stm/ Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians'; BBC World Service; November 8, 2006]
* [http://transcurrents.com/tamiliana/archives/217 Massacre of innocent civilians at Kathiraweli – Trancurrents]
* [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alex_stein/2006/11/post_660.html Double Standards at the United Nations (UN)]
* [http://vaharaidisplaced.blogspot.com/ Vaharai Displaced: A Pictorial from Humanity Ashore]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/arjunan/page2/ Vaharai bombing: A Pictorial by Arjunan]