Artillery-fired cluster shells, aerial bombing on safety zone, 39 civilians killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 17:44 GMT]
For the first time within the safety zone, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers Saturday attacked Moongkilaa'ru and Chuthanthirapuram. Relentless artillery fire also continued throughout the day on civilian targets. 39 civilians were killed and 128 wounded in the indiscriminate attacks. Artillery-fired cluster munitions were used in the attacks by the SLA against civilians targets, blamed LTTE's Political Head B. Nadesan. Meanwhile a doctor attending the wounded at Udaiyaarkaddu hospital described the situation as a two-pronged genocide, one through military operations and the other by refusing medical supplies.

The 48-hours ultimatum of Rajapaksa was wrongly interpreted in a section of political circles and media in India as a temporary ceasefire allowing civilians to move. But it was in fact a period of intensified attack on the civilians to terrorise them to submit, Mr. Nadesan charged.

The environs of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital had come under artillery barrage on Friday and Saturday. A civilian was killed in PTK on Saturday. Four civilians were killed in Pokka'nai and another four at Chuthanthirapuram, according to medical sources.

The remaining dead in different locations were not brought to the hospitals, sources said.

Chronology: