Aerial bombing by Sri Lankan air force kills an estimated 61 children at a school in Mullaitivu. The Sri Lankan government justifies the attack on the basis that the alleged ‘orphanage’ is a training camp for child soldiers.
Sources
Dispute over Sri Lanka air raids, BBC, 15 August 2006; Not an orphanage but an LTTE training camp: Colombo, The Hindu. 19 August 2006, There Is No Military Solution to This Conflict, The Nation, 20 August 2006
Quotations
“You can’t expect us to pamper them if they come armed to kill soldiers.”. Keheliya Rambukwela, Government spokesman.
“The truth of the matter is that the structure referred to in the State Assembly Resolution was not an orphanage as claimed by the LTTE, but a strategically located long standing LTTE training camp, from which that organisation used to induct cadres for its recent attacks against the security forces and the positions established by the cease fire in the Jaffna peninsula. Firm and reliable evidence in the form of video footage through aerial reconnaissance, establishing the presence of armed personnel and the imparting of combat training at this location, has already been shared by the Government on August 16 with the diplomatic community and the media in Sri Lanka. The LTTE has a known track record of recruiting underage combatants and some of them could have perhaps been present, at the time of the sortie by the Air Force. The Government of Sri Lanka unreservedly regrets any loss of human life, including in the incident in Mullaitivu. It must be stressed however that the loss of life is brought about solely by the LTTE which has initiated hostilities, thereby compelling the Government to execute self defensive military measures in order to preserve the positions established by the cease fire.” Government statement, responding to the resolution pertaining to Sri Lanka adopted by the State Assembly of Tamil Nadu on 17 August 2006.
“My monitors up in Kilinochchi visited the area. They saw the premises that was definitely bombed by the Sri Lankan air force. I think we counted 12 bombs which was confirmed. They were mostly fragmentation bombs which explode in the air and spread out a lot of pellets or fragments. They were dropped at premises that have been or is said to be an orphanage although at that time it was not used as such because there were no children there. According to the LTTE, it was used to train young women in first aid. Nobody was left when we came to the site, but obviously people have been killed there. I cannot count the number. I doubt it was 61, as claimed by the LTTE for several reasons.” Ulf Henricsson, Interview with The Nation, 10 August 2006.
