2ND LEAD (CORRECTION)

Jaffna Bishop's House appeal to Colombo to rebuild Allaippiddi church

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 14:33 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop House and several Catholic organizations in Jaffna peninsula appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to rebuild St. Philips Narrie’s church in Allaiappiddi in the islets of Jaffna which was destroyed in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Multi-barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire in August 2006, sources in Jaffna said. The church serves more than 80 resettled families in Allaipiddi.



Allaippiddi residents had sought protection in the above church during SLA offensives in August 2006.

SLA MBRL fire launched from several SLA bases in Jaffna peninsula on the church killed 40 and seriously injured more than hundreds who had sought protection in the above church during the offensive.

The MBRL barrage had almost razed the church to the ground.

The dead were left abandoned and the injured brought to Jaffna and this incident triggered the displacement of the entire village to Jaffna where they were offered shelter in St. Our Lady of Refuge (OLR) and Navvaanththu'rai churches.

Many were also placed in interim refugee camps in Jaffna.



Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, Allaippiddi Parish Priest, went missing after he was last seen at the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check point, on his way to perform religious duties in St. Philips Narries church in Allaippiddi.

An estimated 10 million rupees will be needed to rebuild the above church.

The land mines sown in Allaippiddi village have been completely cleared with the assistance of Jaffna Secretariat and its former residents are gradually retuning to take up permanent residence again, civil society sources in Jaffna said.