2ND LEAD

Sri Lankan forces blast bridge on humanitarian access route in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 02:44 GMT]
Pearaa'ru bridge, located on Maangku'lam - Oddisuddaan Road, which branches off from the A9, the access route which was used by the World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian convoy to Vanni during the first week of October has been destroyed by the Sri Lankan forces in joint attacks carried out since Sunday. In the meantime, rain has started to fall in densely populated areas in Vanni on Tuesday. Many of the refugees living under the trees were forced to seek shelter in buildings, temples, churches and with the neighbouring houses.

The IDPs were expecting Humanitarian Convoy last Friday.

On Sunday, a Sri Lanka Army DPU team attempted to destroy the 15 meter wide and 10 meters deep bridge, which is located at 9th Mile Post from Maangku'lam. Later, the SLA targeted the bridge with artillery fire. Sri Lanka Air Force bombers also carried out bombardment on the bridge, disabling vehicle transport over the bridge.

Pearaa'ru channels water from Vavuniyaa to Ira'naimadu Tank.

The other access road, which runs thruough Neadungkea'ni from Pu'liyanku'lam in Vavuniyaa towards Mullaiththeevu has been targeted by the DPU for a long time.