Shell wounds toddler

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 December 1999, 23:52 GMT]
A three-year-old girl was injured in the Sri Lanka Army's retaliatory shelling from Kirumichchai camp, north of Valaichenai, this morning. The child, Jenitta.G, of Panichankerny, has been admitted at the Batticaloa hospital.

Her mother, Jeeva Ariyamalar,25, told the TamilNet correspondent, they were fast asleep when shells began to fall on their village at around 2 a.m.

"I sat in a cornier in the hut and a shell exploded in front of the entrance. My daughter was injured on her head. We were in the hut till morning and went to Valaichenai hospital," she said.

"However, the soldiers at the camp which came under attack did not allow us to proceed. They asked me to return home. I cried and begged the soldiers to allow me to proceed," she said further.

"Then I went to the Army camp in my village (Panichankerny) and pleaded with the Army officer there to help me take my daughter to the hospital," she said.

"He bandaged my daughter's injuries. He contacted the Kirumichchai camp, and arranged for transport to the hospital."

"As there are no vehicular transport I had to cycle with another person, about 25 km., to the Valaichenai hospital," she said.

Jenitta was later transferred to the Batticaloa hospital.