Colombo intensifies attacks in Vanni, Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 22:34 GMT]
Four civilians were killed and six wounded in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery shelling in Vaharai in the East, and a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was killed and two wounded in Pooneryn, Vanni, Friday, as SLAF intensified air raids across Northeast, sources in Kilinochchi said. The attacks continued despite Colombo's commitment to cease violence at the negotiating table in Geneva last weekend, and Co-chairs' indignation over the bombing of a house in Kilinochchi that killed five persons and damaged Kilinochchi Hospital.

Friday morning, SLAF Kfir jets targeted a Sea Tiger base at Kiranji in Pooneryn around 8:30 a.m.

Two Kfir bombers dropped 16 bombs on two different targets in Pooneryn and attacked Palai around 10:30 a.m., LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said.

Meanwhile, the death toll of Internally Displaced civilians killed in SLA artillery attack in LTTE controlled Vaharai in Batticaloa district has risen to four, according to the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), a satellite television run by the Tigers.

Six civilians were wounded in Vaharai, the Television said. The injured were rushed to the Vaharai Government hospital.

Nallathamby Thiyagarajah and his son Thiyagarajah Rajanikanth, 28, who were riding a bicycle, were killed by a shell.

The other two killed were identified as Nadaraja Anushanthan and Packiyaraja Thileepan, two internally displaced persons from Manalsenai, Trincomalee.

Bodies of the victims were transferred to the Vaharai Government Hospital for postmortem examinations.

Meanwhile, the internally displaced people from Trincomalee district who are housed in temporary shelters in Vaharai fled their homes as the shells fell among their refugee camps.

School attendence in Kilinochchi dropped Friday and hundreds of patients stayed away from Kilinochchi hospital which was evacuated Thursday following the SLAF attack on a civilian family.

A heart patient died at the hospital due to the blast shock and most of the patients who were forced to leave the hospital Thursday, were yet to return to hospital, the doctors said. Relatives of patients were seen at the hospital to receive medicines.

Normally the hospital treats around 700 outpatients a day. Only 119 were registered at the hospital's clinics Friday.

One student broke his legs and another was wounded when students Friday ran in panic after observing Kfir jets. The student was treated at the orthopaedic department at the hospital, medical sources said.

Two of the five members killed Thursday in Kilinochchi air-strike, were Advanced Level (A/L) students from Kilinochchi Central College.

The victims were buried Friday at Uruthirapuram, in Kilinochchi district.

Hundreds of people, including political leaders, religious dignitaries, principals, teachers and students attended the funeral.

LTTE's Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan addressed the mourners at the funeral house.

The Tokyo Co-Chair (EU, Japan, Norway and the US) ambassadors in Sri Lanka, in a press releas issued Friday, expressed their deep regret over the bombing and said latest attack comes at a delicate time when both sides should seek to build confidence and compromise to ensure further rounds of talks.

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