Sri Lanka

[Yrys]

S Lanka hospital hit in fighting

The government has said it will take care
of civilians caught in the war zone

At least two people were killed after a hospital in northern Sri Lanka was shelled
in clashes between government and rebels, the Red Cross has said. A Red Cross
spokesman said he was "shocked" that the hospital had been hit, for the second
time in weeks.

The hospital is situated in an enclave held by the Tamil Tiger rebels and home
to tens of thousands of civilians.

The Sri Lankan military says it will move to "liberate" the civilians after a truce to
allow them to leave expired. Meanwhile, the government has warned it will expel
diplomats, aid agencies and journalists it deems biased in favour of the Tamil Tigers.

The agencies say the people are facing a desperate situation, with hundreds killed
in combat in recent days and food supplies running low.

'Wounded are protected'

The Red Cross said in a statement that the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital in Vanni region
received two direct hits. "We're shocked that the hospital was hit, and this for the
second time in recent weeks," said Paul Castella, head of the Colombo delegation of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "Wounded and sick people,
medical personnel and medical facilities are all protected by international humanitarian
law. Under no circumstance may they be directly attacked."

The hospital, which has some 500 inpatients, is one of the few still operating in the region.

An army offensive has pushed the rebels into a 300 sq km (110 sq mile) corner of jungle
in the north-east of the island, which aid agencies say also holds 250,000 civilians. The
government says the number of civilians is closer to 120,000 and that the army has a
policy of not firing at civilians. It accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of
not allowing civilians to leave, saying they are being used as human shields.

The rebels say the civilians prefer to stay where they are under Tamil Tiger "protection".

The reports cannot be independently confirmed as neither side allows journalists near
the war zone.

'Utmost care'

Officials said about 300 civilians had crossed into government-held territory during the
48-hour truce, which expired late Saturday. "We will now have to save the civilians and
move in," the spokesman, Kaheliya Rambukwella, said. "It is now very evident that
[Tamil Tiger leader Valupillai] Prabhakaran is... using civilians as cover," Mr Rambukwella
said. "We will take the utmost care of civilians when we move in."

The military has captured the key towns of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and the strategically
important Elephant Pass to the Jaffna peninsula in recent weeks.

The BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan has been in the city of Jaffna on one of the first
government-approved media trips to the city - the cultural capital of Sri Lanka's Tamil
community - in months. He said thousands of people had attended a rally held by a
pro-government Tamil party calling for the rebels to allow civilians to leave the war zone.

Meanwhile a senior government official warned that diplomats, aid agencies and media,
including the BBC, will be expelled from Sri Lanka if they seem to favour the Tamil Tiger
rebels. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said bias among some foreigners was
damaging security forces as they dealt the "final blow" to the rebels.

 

[Yrys]

S Lanka tells civilians to leave

The Sri Lankan government has told civilians to leave an area where it is fighting
Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it cannot guarantee their safety. A statement said the
battle in the north-east was at a "decisive stage". It is unclear how the tens of
thousands of people caught up in the fighting can escape. The rebels deny
preventing people from leaving the area.

Earlier, the Red Cross said at least nine people were killed by shelling at a
hospital in rebel-held territory. "The government calls on all civilians to enter
the demarcated 'safety zone' as soon as possible," the government statement
said, AFP news agency reported. "The government cannot be responsible for
the safety and security of civilians still living among LTTE [liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam] terrorists," it said.

Sri Lanka's military says it has designated a safe zone for civilians in a 32 sq km
buffer zone on the A-35 main road which links Paranthan and Mullaitivu. The
government's designated safe zone is inside a gradually-shrinking rebel enclave
north of the town of Mullaitivu.

But aid workers say that, in recent days, shells have fallen into the zone and
people have been killed there. Both sides deny being responsible for firing into
the area.

The Sri Lankan military said there had been more heavy fighting on Monday, with
two rebel leaders critically wounded. There in no independent confirmation of the
claim - journalists are not able to reach the front lines. The army offensive has
pushed the rebels into a 300 sq km (110 sq mile) corner of jungle in the north-east
of the island, which aid agencies say also holds 250,000 civilians.

The government says the number of civilians is closer to 120,000 and that the army
has a policy of not firing at civilians. It accuses the Tamil Tigers of not allowing
civilians to leave, saying they are being used as human shields.

The rebels say the civilians prefer to stay where they are under rebel "protection".

The government statement came a day after nine people were killed when shells
hit a hospital in the area, according to the Red Cross.

There has been no word from the rebels on the government statement or on the
shelling of the hospital, in the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu, in Mullaitivu district. The
hospital was hit three times in 24 hours, aid officials said.

UN spokesman Gordon Weiss told the BBC the shells had hit a crowded paediatric
unit. It is not clear who fired them, with pro-rebel websites blaming the army for
the attacks, and the military denying any role.

A Sri Lankan government spokesman, Lakshman Hulugalle, told the BBC's World
Update programme: "Actually, this whole issue of shelling at Puthukkudiyiruppu
Hospital is based on false information. "There was no attack in that area... They're
just spreading this news for them. Other than that, we totally reject that there was
shelling. There was no shelling at all."

There has been no comment so far from the Tamil Tigers.

Independent journalists are not allowed in the conflict zone so information from
both sides cannot be verified. Puthukkudiyiruppu is situated in an enclave held by
the rebels, and is home to tens of thousands of civilians.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised safe passage for civilians
trapped by fighting in the north-east.

Influx of injured

International Red Cross spokeswoman Sophie Romanens told the BBC that the local
civilian population was still desperate to reach the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu for
medical help. "There is a constant influx of people wounded by the fighting who
arrive at the hospital," she said. "People arrive by ambulances, but they are also
brought in by wagon, by pick-up truck, tractor, any vehicle, any means of transport
that people can find to reach that hospital. "And you know, people who are wounded
are even ready to take the risk to have to cross an area where there is fighting
going on to be able to get treatment in the hospital."

 

[Yrys]

2 days of shelling on Sri Lanka hospital kills 11
One of the last remaining health institutions in war zone heavily damaged

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Artillery shells slammed into an overcrowded hospital for the second day
in Sri Lanka's northern war zone, bringing the death toll to at least 11 people, officials said
Monday as the army claimed it found an abandoned luxury hide-out of the elusive rebel leader.

The attacks on the hospital intensified concern for the fate of some 250,000 civilians trapped
in the shrinking war zone where the Tamil Tigers have been boxed in. The Sri Lankan army
believes it is on the verge of destroying the rebels and ending one of the longest running civil
wars in the world.

In the chaos of war, where claims and counterclaims have become impossible to verify independently,
the Tamil Tigers said they killed 150 soldiers and injured more than 300 since Sunday. The army
denied it lost any men. "There is no truth to that. There were small confrontations, but we didn't
suffer any casualties," military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara told The Associated Press.

The fighting is taking place in Puthukkudiyiruppu area, where three artillery barrages slammed
into the pediatrics and women's wards of the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital on Sunday, the Red Cross
said. The shells, which also hit a kitchen and a chapel, killed nine patients Sunday and wounded 20,
Red Cross spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne said Monday. Kandasamy Tharmakulasingham, a local
health official, confirmed the attacks, and said more shells hit the hospital Monday morning, killing
two more people and wounding six others. Sarasi and Tharmakulasingham couldn't say who fired
the shells.

But Dr. Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top government health official in the area, said two of the
attacks appeared to have come from the army. He said the shelling caused extensive damage to
the overcrowded hospital, one of the last functioning health institutions inside rebel-held territory.

Pediatric ward struck

The United Nations confirmed the hospital was struck Sunday by artillery shells throughout the day.
"It seems to have struck the pediatric ward, a 30-bed ward filled to overflowing," U.N. spokesman
Gordon Weiss said. He did not cast blame on either side.

Nanayakkara said the army was not responsible for the attacks and accused the rebels, formally
known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, of "desperately" firing artillery shells at random.
He said troops discovered Sunday an underground three-room apartment in Vishwamadu village,
fitted with a luxury bathroom, high quality furnishings, a generator and electrical appliances. "We
believe it belongs to LTTE leader (Velupillai) Prabhakaran," he said. "With the luxury items which
we have come across there, it definitely has to be the leader's house."

The Tigers did not immediately comment on the report, but claimed they pushed back army troops
and tanks in Puthukkudiyiruppu, killing 150 soldiers and wounding more than 350, on Sunday,
S. Puleedevan, a top rebel official, said in a statement.

Independent reports from the war zone are not available because journalists and aid groups are
barred from the area.

Humanitarian crisis

Aid groups say the fighting has spawned a humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by the strikes on the
hospital. The Red Cross said more than 500 patients were in the hospital, and the wounded
continued to arrive despite the afternoon attack on the facility. The hospital is so crowded that
many patients were forced to sleep on mattresses in the corridor, it said.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in
the north and east after decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese
majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the civil war.

 

[old medic]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090203/Sri_Lanka_090203/20090203?hub=TopStories

Patients flee hospital under attack in Sri Lanka
Tue. Feb. 3 2009
The Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Patients are fleeing a hospital that was hit four times by artillery shells in the war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces in northern Sri Lanka this week, the Red Cross said Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the military said it had captured the rebels' seventh and final airstrip, effectively grounding their tiny air force as troops pushed ahead with their offensive to crush the guerrilla group and end Asia's longest-running civil war.

On Monday, independent observers handed The Associated Press dramatic pictures and video, showing scores of civilians killed or maimed. The images offered a rare glimpse of the growing toll the civil war is taking on the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the all-but-sealed conflict zone.

Even the wounded being treated at a hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu were not safe. Artillery slammed into the hospital three times Sunday, killing nine patients and injuring 20.

It was hit again on Monday and three people were killed and 10 injured, said Sarasi Wijeratne, the spokeswoman of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Colombo.

The hospital is one of the last functioning medical facilities in the area where the Tamil Tigers are fighting a last-gasp battle for survival.

"People have started to leave the hospital because they don't feel safe there," said Wijeratne. "Those who are able to move are going away in search of safer places or to find shelter in less exposed locations."

The ICRC is negotiating with both sides to secure safe passage for the sick, and evacuations for the wounded, Wijeratne said.

"We need security assurances. Civilians have to be protected under international humanitarian laws," she said.

The civilians are trapped along with the rebels in a 300-square-kilometre sllice of jungle and rural area, surrounded by government forces.

The military says it is on the verge of destroying the Tamil Tigers, and ending their war for a separate homeland for the minority Tamil in the north and the east that started in 1983 and has cost more than 70,000 lives.

The military said it captured a runway on the edge of what remains of the rebels' once-substantial de facto state in the north. Troops had captured six other runways in fighting in recent months. However, they have not found the three or four aircraft that comprise the rebel air force.

The rebels have used their tiny air wing to carry out a series of attacks on Sri Lankan military bases and the capital, Colombo, badly embarrassing the Sri Lankan government. In one attack in 2007, the rebel airplanes bombed the country's only international airport, creating panic among travellers.

Information from the war zone is impossible to verify, since journalists and most aid groups have been barred from the area. But independent observers shot video footage and photographs over the past week and provided them to the AP on condition they not be identified because they feared government reprisal.

One photograph, taken Jan. 23, shows a mother and father dead on the floor, their two young children cradled between them, also dead.

They were apparently killed in their sleep when an artillery shell hit their makeshift shelter in the village of Udayarkattu, according to the observer who took the picture.

The village is inside the "safe zone" that the government established Jan. 21 inside rebel territory as a refuge for civilians.

The government pledged not to attack the safe area, but local officials and human rights groups say it has come under repeated artillery attack.

The video footage shows the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital before it came under the artillery barrage.

It shows young boys and girls with amputated legs and arms, and an elderly woman missing her right leg writhing on a mat on the floor of the hospital. A toddler, his head bandaged and left eye swollen closed, lay nearby, his gauze-covered hands useless as flies buzzed around his face.

"We were caught in shelling after I unloaded our goods. Both my sisters were killed," a teenage boy with no arms sobs on the tape.

Asked about the video and photographs, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara asserted: "There may be civilians injured, but not due to shelling. They may be injured because they have been employed on the construction of (rebel) defenses. Civilians maybe have been injured due to crossfire."

Dr. Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top health official in the war zone, estimated last week that more than 300 civilians had been killed in the recent fighting, something the government has denied. Varatharajah has not updated his estimate.

The government accuses the rebels of holding the civilians against their will as human shields, a charge the rebels deny.

 

[4Feathers]

Unbeknown to many, the RAF had a Sqn in Sri Lanka in WW11. I you are interested, google Air Commodore Birchall, the savior if Ceylon. Probably one of Canada's greatest unsung war hero's. I had the please of travelling there with him to dedicate a cairn in honour of fallen Canadian Airmen from his Squadron.

 

[4Feathers]

Oops, I meant RCAF not RAF.

 

[MarkOttawa]

More on Air Commodore Leonard Birchall:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-21567.html

‘Canada has lost a hero'

By Ann Lukits
Local News - Monday, September 13, 2004 @ 07:00

A great Canadian war hero will be laid to rest today at Kingston’s Cataraqui Cemetery.

Air Commodore Leonard Birchall, a highly decorated Second World War pilot who was dubbed the “Saviour of Ceylon” by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, died in hospital late Friday holding hands with the woman he married almost six years ago to the day.

Mr. Birchall, 89, had been battling lung cancer for several months but a week before his death he felt well enough to attend a surprise party marking his wedding anniversary.

The event was organized by his wife, Kathleen, who realized “this man wants a party” when he suggested a couple of his friends take her out to dinner.

More than 50 friends and well-wishers crammed into a tiny sitting room filled with flowers at St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospital to toast “Birch” and “Kate,” as the couple is affectionately known.

The gathering delighted the veteran but late last week his health suddenly declined.

“He died with his hand in mine,” Mrs. Birchall said yesterday. “He went so peacefully. After all his trouble, wasn’t it wonderful!”

Mr. Birchall’s “trouble” – and his legendary heroism – date to April 1942, when the then-leader of the Canadian Air Force 413 Squadron was piloting a twin-engine Catalina, a flying boat used for patrolling coastlines.

The aircraft was shot down by the Japanese, but not before the eight-member crew successfully alerted Allied Forces about an impending attack on Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka.

Churchill called it “the most dangerous moment” of the Second World War – the moment when the Japanese fleet was steaming towards Ceylon for a surprise attack on the British fleet. The advance warning by the Catalina crew gave the British and Ceylon time to prepare. As a result, the losses were small and the Japanese were stopped in their tracks.

It wasn’t until the war was over that Mr. Birchall learned the hastily dispatched warning had reached Allied Command. He and his men spent the next three-and-a-half years in a succession of Japanese prison camps, where they were starved, beaten and tortured.

“I believe honestly that we will not see his like again,” retired Maj.-Gen. Frank Norman said yesterday. “Here was an individual who was condemned to death on three separate occasions by the Japanese.
Obviously, they didn’t carry out the sentence, but the last time this happened, he turned to the individual and said, ‘You have just made a terrible mistake. We will win this war and I will live to see you hanged.’ ”

Following the war, Mr. Birchall made good on his promise. He returned to Japan to testify at a war crimes tribunal and witness the execution of his captor.

Norman and Mr. Birchall are both former commandants of Royal Military College and knew each other socially as well as professionally. Norman described his predecessor – their terms as commandant were separated by 15 years – as “an individual who was very much formed by his time as a prisoner of war, yet it was not something that dominated his conversation or personality or anything else.”

“Canada has lost a hero,” Norman said. “Canada and Kingston have also lost a servant of Canada in a way that was very special.”

Kingston and the Islands MPP John Gerretsen also admired Mr. Birchall, whom he first met several years ago at an RMC dinner following an international air skills competition for the inaugural “Birchall Cup.” Aircrews from Canada, England the United States compete for the cup and other awards, which are named after members of Mr. Birchall’s wartime Catalina crew.

“We’ve lost an actual physical link with the past,” Gerretsen said. “Having been born in the Second World War, and my own native country of Holland liberated by Canadians, I probably realize more than a lot of other people that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the fact of what Canadians did.”

Gerretsen said that Mr. Birchall wasn’t someone who promoted himself or boasted about his heroism.

“He was an extremely friendly individual but what I found interesting about him is if he was talking to you about something, he was really talking to you. It wasn’t just a passing conversation. He was very attentive to the people he was surrounded by.”

Despite ailing health, the frail commodore left his sickbed in July to attend a special military ceremony at City Park in early July where he was greeted by members of the 413 Squadron of the Canadian Air Force. Because their honorary colonel was too ill to travel, the squadron flew from Nova Scotia to Kingston instead.

Mr. Birchall, who was a patient at Kingston General Hospital at the time, was dressed in full uniform for the occasion.

An impressive row of 18 medals glittered on his chest, including the five-bar Canadian Forces decoration that represent his 60-plus years of service in the military – the longest of any living member in Canada.

The event was both a change-of-command ceremony and a birthday celebration.

Mr. Birchall, who turned 89 the following day, beamed happily as squadron members belted out “Happy Birthday” and presented him with an engraved silver mug. About six weeks after the ceremony, Mr. Birchall was moved to the palliative wing at St. Mary’s of the Lake.

Stu Crawford, a Second World War flying officer who served in bomber command over Germany, was a frequent visitor. Crawford said he met Mr. Birchall through the Royal Kingston United Services Institute, a local veterans’ organization that Mr. Birchall once headed.

“I would fly with him anywhere,” Crawford said. “I would certainly go anywhere with him. That was his great leadership. I would trust him anywhere.”

Crawford saw his old friend for the last time on Thursday when he popped into his room at St. Mary’s to deliver a newspaper. The RMC motto, “Truth, Duty, Valour,” best sums up Mr. Birchall’s legacy, Crawford said.

“We’ll all miss his great sense of humour but it was the humanity in the man. Every job you could trust him. He was honest as you could ever be with any person and he expected the same of others.”

Born in St. Catharines, Mr. Birchall enrolled as a cadet at RMC in 1933 and graduated in 1937, two years before war broke out in Europe. Former commandant Norman said “Birch,” who was a late entry to the college, loved to tell the story of his arrival.

He pulled up in a taxi and told the driver to wait while he found someone to help him with his trunks. He walked into a room filled with people wearing uniforms “covered in gold” and said, “Hello chaps, I’ve got some bags, would you like to come out and give me a hand?”

Even the taxi driver knew better. According to Norman, he told the brash cadet that’s not the way the system works but “Birch said he didn’t know that.”

Norman added that he visited the ailing air commodore in hospital from time to time but “you had to have a funny story for him or you’d get pitched out.”

Despite his initial gaffe as a cadet, Mr. Birchall is fondly remembered as a devoted humanitarian.

He was president of the local Salvation Army, a lifetime governor of Kingston General Hospital, an active member of the local seniors’ association and a founding member of the Burma Star Association. He also played a major role in establishing the Burma Star memorial in City Park.

He received numerous awards and honours during his lifetime, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Order of Canada and Order of the British Empire. He was also inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame and the United States Legion of Merit. In 2003, he was made an “American Eagle.”

A street that forms part of the Kingston Airport complex was renamed Len Birchall Way in his honour several years ago.

Retired lawyer Bogart Trumpour, who served in the navy during the war, admired Mr. Birchall, whom he first met at meetings of the United Services Institute.

“I think his greatness was shown, not in his ‘Saviour of Ceylon’ role necessarily, but his greatness was because of his absolute confidence and total courage in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps,” Trumpour said.

“He stood up to Japanese guards and the captors for his men. He was a senior officer then and it was at their own risk that the Japanese tormenters dared to mistreat Birchall’s men.”

Trumpour added, “He was a great Canadian – not good, he was great. And he was a fine person generally.”

Members of 413 Squadron were expected to fly in this morning to attend funeral services at Chalmers United Church. Members of the local Air Force Association held a private service last night and a separate family ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday.

Predeceased by two wives, Mr. Birchall is survived by a large extended family that includes two daughters and a son, a stepdaughter, stepson, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

The Chalmers service is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. with interment following at Cataraqui Cemetery.

Anyone know if RMC is still running the Birchall Cup?

Mark
Ottawa

 

[old medic]

Two versions, two sets of numbers, both originating with The AP

Sri Lanka military: 10,000 civilians flee war zone
Feb. 8 2009 7:42 AM ET
The Associated Press
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090208/srilanka_civilians_090208/20090208?hub=World

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- More than 10,000 civilians have fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone over the last two days, an official said Sunday as government forces appeared poised to crush the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Meanwhile, army troops foiled a rebel attempt to break through the front line of government forces in the north, killing at least 15 insurgents, the military said.

The military's relentless offensive in recent months has almost routed the rebels, virtually ending their 25-year war for a separate Tamil nation in the Sinhalese-majority country.

The United Nations and aid agencies have expressed concern for the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the shrinking sliver of land still controlled by the Tigers.

On Sunday, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said 5,000 civilians fled the war zone for government territory Friday while another 5,600 crossed over Saturday.

International organizations including the Red Cross have urged both sides to let the noncombatants out of the conflict zone.

The government accuses the rebels of holding civilians as human shields, a charge the rebels deny.

The Red Cross said Saturday that some 400 patients are stranded in a makeshift hospital in the north. It urged both sides to allow them to be evacuated.

The United Nations warned Friday of a food crisis in the conflict zone, saying World Food Program stocks in the area were gone.

Sri Lanka barred nearly all aid groups from the war zone last year. It does not allow journalists in either, making independent verification of the situation impossible.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued in the north.

Tamil rebels, using an "improvised armored personnel carrier," attempted to breach the government forces' defence line near the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu in the north on Saturday, the military said.

But soldiers foiled the attempt, attacking the vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades and tanks, it said in a statement.

It said soldiers had seen about 20 rebels in the vehicle before it was destroyed and counted at least 15 rebel bodies after the attack.

The rebels could not be reached for comment because communications to rebel-held territory have been severed.

Separately Saturday, air force jets bombed a series of rebel positions, including an artillery gun, the military said.

Some 70,000 people have died in Sri Lanka's civil war, which began in 1983 after years of marginalization of Tamils by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

Sri Lankan military says more than 15,000 civilians flee war zone as fighting rages
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI | Associated Press Writer
8:49 AM CST, February 8, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-sri-lanka-civil-war,0,7669298.story

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — More than 15,000 civilians have fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone over the last three days, an official said Sunday, as government forces appeared poised to crush the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Meanwhile, attacks in the north killed at least 21 rebels over the weekend, according to the military.

The military's relentless offensive in recent months has almost routed the rebels, virtually ending their 25-year war for a separate Tamil nation in the Sinhalese-majority country.

But the United Nations and aid agencies have expressed concern for the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the shrinking sliver of land still controlled by the Tigers. International organizations including the Red Cross have urged both sides to let the noncombatants out of the conflict zone.

"So far on Sunday, 4,600 civilians have come to the government areas," military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

He said 5,600 fled the war zone on Saturday while another 5,000 crossed over Friday, bringing the total for the three days to 15,200.

The government accuses the rebels of holding civilians as human shields, a charge the rebels deny.

The Red Cross said Saturday that some 400 patients are also stranded in a makeshift hospital in the north. It urged both sides to allow them to be evacuated.

Warnings from the United Nations on Friday of a looming food crisis in the conflict zone added to the plight of civilians trapped in the region. The group said that the World Food Program stocks in the area were gone.

Sri Lanka barred nearly all aid groups from the war zone last year. It does also not allow in journalists, making independent verification of the situation impossible.

Heavy fighting continued Sunday, with the navy destroying two rebel boats 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the northeastern coast, killing at least six insurgents, navy spokesman Capt. D.K.P Dassanayake said.

On Saturday, army troops foiled a rebel attempt to breach the government forces' defense line near the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu in the north, killing at least 15 insurgents, a military statement said.

Separately, air force jets bombed a series of rebel positions Saturday, including an artillery gun, the military said.

The rebels could not be reached for comment because communications to rebel-held territory have been severed.

Some 70,000 people have died in Sri Lanka's civil war, which began in 1983 after years of marginalization of Tamils by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

 

[old medic]

Female suicide bomber kills 28 in Sri Lanka

Updated Mon. Feb. 9 2009 2:23 PM ET

The Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel who pretended to be a war refugee blew herself up Monday as Sri Lankan soldiers frisked her at a checkpoint. Twenty troops and eight civilians died.

State TV showed the carnage after the suicide bombing in Vishwamadu, a northeastern town where hundreds of civilians had been waiting to be sent to refugee camps: a woman in a blue dress curled up in the fetal position, her face and neck spattered with blood; plastic lawn chairs upended and piled in a jumble from the force of the blast.

A soldier briskly picked up a dead child who was sprawled face down in the dirt, yellow shorts peeping out from beneath her bloodstained pink-and-purple dress. He dropped her rag-doll body on top of another corpse in a truck, leaving their bloodied, bare feet jutting out the back.

The footage, released by the government, did not show the bodies of any soldiers.

The military has accused the rebels of using the civilians as human shields and called for noncombatants to flee to government-controlled areas. The rebels have accused the government of indiscriminate shelling, including in a government-designated "safe zone," leading to increasing civilian casualties.

On Monday morning, more than 800 civilians had crossed the front-lines and were being searched by soldiers when the bomber attacked, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

The accused bomber was being frisked when she set off the explosives, killing 28 people and wounding 24 troops and 40 civilians, he said.

The attack targeted a military weak point: the processing of the masses of civilians fleeing the area.

Military officials say the flow of civilians out of the war zone has increased in recent days, with 4,700 fleeing Sunday, bringing the total number of noncombatants to escape the war zone to 20,000 this year, Nanayakkara said.

The attack also highlighted concerns that the rebels were trying to blend in with the civilian population so they can fight on using insurgent tactics.

"The LTTE is now desperate because they don't have any control over the civilians," Nanayakkara said, calling the rebels by the acronym of their formal title, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. "They wanted to stop these people coming in."

With most communication to the north severed, the rebels could not be reached for comment.

The U.S. Embassy in Colombo called on the rebels "to allow all civilians freedom of movement" and urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure that all civilians who flee the fighting are transferred to the camps "in accordance with international standards."

The United Nations also condemned the bombing.

"We deplore the loss of civilian life in this targeted killing. It's a blow for people who have suffered so much," said UN resident co-ordinator Neil Buhne.

The rebels have been accused of more than 200 suicide attacks in 25 years of civil war.

Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans, meanwhile, crammed into a patriotic exhibition displaying weapons, boats and even submarines captured from the rebels, underscoring growing optimism that decades of war could be drawing to a close.

"We are certain the end of the LTTE is very near. Look at the weapons captured from the Tigers," said Sumith Samarasinghe, 37, a small business owner.

The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate state for the country's ethnic Tamil minority after decades of marginalization at the hands of governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

 

[geo]

well... an insurection that has run it's course for 25+ years
why?... because it was a low intensity war where the Tamil tigers were slowly picking at the Sri Lankan people.  While I shudeder at the loss of life, this one final push has the potential to squash the insurection once and for all.

Yes, there is spilt blood BUT what is the alternative... continuing for another 25+ years

I think not!

 

[Yrys]

S Lanka civilian attacks denied, BBC News, 11 February 2009

The Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels have both denied accusations of inflicting
civilian casualties in the north-east. The army said it was not responsible for the shelling of
a makeshift hospital which the Red Cross (ICRC) said had killed 16 people on Monday. The
Tamil Tigers denied shooting dead 19 fleeing civilians.

Meanwhile the ICRC says a boat carrying 240 wounded civilians from the war area has
arrived safely in Trincomalee. "The boat arrived from Putumattalan on Tuesday night," an
International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman told the BBC.  "Because it took all
night for the wounded and sick passengers to disembark we cannot return to collect another
160 patients waiting to be transferred from the war area until Thursday."

The ICRC said at least 16 patients were killed on Monday in shelling of the centre treating
wounded civilians in Putumattalan. "We are shocked that patients are not afforded the protection
they are entitled to," ICRC head Paul Castella said. He did not say who was behind the shelling.

The government has strongly denied that it was involved. "We did not fire at this location on
Monday and it is quite possible that the Tamil Tigers attacked them," military spokesman Brig
Udaya Nanayakkara told the AFP news agency.

The military in turn accused the rebels of gunning down 19 civilians and wounding another 75
who tried to escape from the dwindling territory they still control. But that allegation was
"categorically denied" in a statement released by the Tigers on the pro-rebel TamilNet website.
It said that Sri Lankan army commandos were responsible "in their attempt to forcibly move civilians"
away from the conflict areas.

"Sri Lankan military machinery, which has relentlessly killed and maimed thousands of civilians during
the past four weeks, is now engaged in a propaganda drive to divert the mounting pressure on the
Colombo government by the international community," rebel spokesman C Ilamparithy was quoted by
TamilNet as saying.

Because independent journalists are forbidden by the government from travelling to the war zone,
it is impossible to verify the claims of either side.

The rebels are now restricted to an area of less than 100 sq km (38 square miles) and analysts say
they are close to military defeat.

The ICRC says the recent fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives and trapped tens of thousands
of people. The director general of health services Ajith Mendis told the BBC Sinhala service the ministry
of health had issued an order for doctors and hospital staff to leave the conflict area to work in
government-controlled areas. The government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, demanding
the rebels lay down their arms.

The Tigers have said they will not do so until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and
sovereignty". The rebels started fighting in the 1970s for a separate state for Tamils.

 

[Yrys]

More Sri Lanka wounded evacuated, BBC News, 12 February 2009

The government says more and more
civilians are fleeing rebel-held areas

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has evacuated a further 160 sick
and wounded people trapped by fighting in north Sri Lanka. An ICRC spokeswoman told the
BBC that a vessel was on its way to Trincomalee after collecting civilian patients from the coastal
village of Putumattalan.

Meanwhile the British PM has appointed a former Defence Secretary, Des Browne, as his special
envoy to Sri Lanka.

The Red Cross says recent fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives. It says that tens of
thousands of people are trapped. "Some of those we have collected are in a serious medical
condition and need urgent treatment," the ICRC spokeswoman said. She said the vessel would
arrive in Trincomalee late on Thursday. The spokeswoman said that the ICRC had no knowledge
at present of further injured or sick civilians who needed to be evacuated.

'Humanitarian aid'

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Des Browne would work closely with the Sri Lankan
government and leaders from all communities. He said the need to get a ceasefire and find a
political settlement had to be addressed immediately. "I want him to be involved in seeing whether
there is scope for political progress in Sri Lanka as well as looking at the issues of humanitarian aid,"
the British prime minister said. "The important thing is to emphasise to all partners that without a
ceasefire and then an attempt at a political process we will be back to the same problems that we've
had before."

In a separate development, the army says it has disbanded a "safe zone" it had established in the
war-hit north. Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said that the army was instead setting up
what he called a new refuge for tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the area. He accused Tamil
Tiger rebels of forcing civilians to seek shelter from the fighting out of the original zone, forcing the
government to set up a new one.

There has been no word from the Tamil Tigers in relation to the government's announcement, but the
pro-rebel TamilNet website has repeatedly accused the army of shelling within the zone.

The government established the first zone on 21 January in a small area of land inside rebel-held
territory. Security forces encouraged families trapped in the war-affected areas to move to the refuge
and pledged not to attack that area. About 50,000 soldiers are pressing the Tamil Tigers into a patch
of north-eastern jungle after taking the key areas of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu. The
government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, demanding the rebels lay down their arms.

The Tigers have said they will not do so until they have a "guarantee of living with freedom and dignity
and sovereignty". The rebels started fighting in the 1970s for a separate state for Tamils.

 

[old medic]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-briefs17-2009feb17,0,4938308.story
February 17, 2009

SRI LANKA

Rebels forcibly recruit teens, U.N. official says

The separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have forcibly recruited teenagers and a U.N. worker, and are shooting and killing people trying to flee the war, said Neil Buhne, United Nations resident coordinator for Sri Lanka. He did not give a number for the dead.

Buhne said the rebels forcibly recruited one of 15 local U.N. employees into their ranks. Those 15 were physically barred from leaving the war zone last month, along with 75 dependents, including 40 children, he said. The rebels could not be reached for comment.

On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross ferried out by boat 400 people from a no-fire zone, its third evacuation from the area in a week.

 

[geo]

Anybody surprised ?

Same as Stalin facing the fall of Stalingrad....
I will fight to the last drop of blood given by my people.... SMERSH troops ensuring that order was "executed".

 

[Journeyman]

Anybody surprised ?

Surprised that the UN turned a blind eye to this.....until one of their local hires was press-ganged? Not in the slightest.

The world had the honesty to scrap the League of Nations as the abject failure that it was. But we continue to keep this equally toothless, yet astronomically more expensive, condo to third-world despots and bureaucrats on life support.

To quote Lt.Col. Frank Slade, "I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place!"

 

[CougarKing]

I can't believe the LTTE still have their own airpower in spite of the sustained Sri Lankan government offensive.

Rebel plane bombs Sri Lanka capital

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD96FEB200

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — An official says two rebel planes have attacked Sri Lanka's capital, dropping a bomb on a government office in the heart of Colombo. No casualties have been reported.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says a tax office was hit by the bomb. He says the air force gave chase to two rebel aircraft and shot one of them down.

The attack amounts to a major embarrassment for Sri Lanka's government, which had claimed to have destroyed all the Tamil Tiger rebels' hidden runways and rendered its small air wing powerless.

Witnesses at the international airport north of the capital said they heard a loud explosion and anti-aircraft fire, but it was unclear whether the airport itself came under attack.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — An official in Sri Lanka says at least one rebel plane has dropped a bomb on the country's capital.

Anti-aircraft fire is lighting up the sky Friday night and the city's power has been cut as searchlights sweep the sky.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says at least one Tamil Tiger rebel plane dropped at least one bomb on the capital. He could not say where the bomb fell.

The attack amounts to a major embarrassment for Sri Lanka's government, which had claimed to have destroyed all the rebels' hidden runways and rendered its small air wing powerless.

A major army offensive in recent months has boxed the rebels' main fighting force into a small strip of land in the country's north.

 

[old medic]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090221/srilanka_airstrike_090221/20090221?hub=World

Sri Lanka rebels call airstrike a success
Sat. Feb. 21 2009
The Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Tamil Tiger rebels said Saturday the two planes they sent on a daring air attack over Sri Lanka's capital that killed four people, including the two pilots, were on a kamikaze mission and were not shot down.

Meanwhile, a visiting top UN humanitarian official called on the government and the rebels to avoid a "final bloodbath" in the country's civil war saying that many civilians are being killed as the conflict is believed to reach its final phase.

The surprise attack was an embarrassment for the government, which said two weeks ago that it had seized all of the rebels' airstrips, effectively grounding their small force of light aircraft.

Authorities pulled the wreckage of one plane out of a government high-rise office building near air force headquarters in the middle of the city. The second plane crashed near an air force base just outside the international airport north of Colombo.

The rebels said the planes intentionally crashed as part of a suicide attack targeting the two air force installations and characterized the raid as a success, according to the rebel-affiliated TamilNet Web site.

The Web site showed a photo of the two pilots posing with rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, a tradition for those about to carry out suicide attacks. It described them as members of the "Black Air Tigers." The Black Tigers is the name for the rebels' suicide squad.

Air Force spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara confirmed the raid was a suicide mission aimed at the two installations, but said anti-aircraft fire sent the planes out of control and forced them to crash before they reached their targets.

At least one of the planes, the one that crashed near the airforce base, was packed with 130 kilograms of high explosives which did not explode, he said adding that the other aircraft exploded after crashing into the tax office.

The attacks killed four people, including the pilots, and injured 51 others, said Dr. Hector Weerasinghe of Colombo National Hospital.

The raid by the rebels' tiny air wing came amid an all-out army offensive that forced the rebels out of nearly all of their strongholds in the north and left them on the brink of defeat in their quarter-century separatist war.

"It means that the LTTE retains its capacity for surprise unconventional warfare," political analyst Jehan Perera said, referring to the rebels by their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

However, the apparent shooting down of the planes would be a sign that "the government is militarily on top of the LTTE," he said.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the failure to bomb any strategic targets was a defeat for the rebels. The Tigers have used a series of successful air attacks in the past to boost their morale and humiliate the government.

"This is the end of the LTTE, that's all I can say," Nanayakkara said.

"We knew they were desperate, we were expecting these kind of suicide attacks...and we were prepared."

But the attack also showed the rebels were not ready to surrender, despite a military offensive that swept them from their de facto capital of Kilinochchi last month and then pushed them into a shrinking sliver of territory along the northeast coast.

The air raid started just after 9:30 p.m. The government immediately shut off all power in the capital, and searchlights crisscrossed the sky. Anti-aircraft fire rippled across the city as tracer rounds flew overhead and flares lit up the night.

The attack was the first air raid in the capital since October, when the rebels bombed a power station on the outskirts of the city.

The rebels were believed to have three or four light aircraft, which they have used sporadically to attack military bases and other facilities but Nanayakkara said he didn't believe the rebel group had anymore aircraft left after the two planes went down Friday.

Meanwhile, John Holmes, the UN's top humanitarian official expressed concerns about the rising civilian deaths in the country's shrinking war zone.

"I fear the reality is that significant numbers of people are still killed and injured everyday in that pocket," Holmes said without identifying the side responsible for the deaths.

Activist group Human Rights Watch on Friday accused both sides of war crimes. It said the military was routinely shelling hospitals, heavily populated areas and government-declared "safe zones." It also accused the rebels of attacking fleeing civilians and forcing those remaining -- including children -- into combat or deadly labour along the front lines.

"What we need to avoid is a final bloodbath, if you like, at the end of this process that could be dreadful for the civilian population as well as for the future," Holmes said.

Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that government's policy is to "ensure the safety of these civilians."

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for an independent state for minority Tamils after decades of marginalization by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed.

 

[geo]

The fact that the LTTE managed to squirrel away some prop aircraft (probably used to smuggle) is not all that surprising.  They may have been parked in India OR in plain sight within Sri Lankas government controlled territory.  Having chosen to kamikaze the aircraft is, form my prespective, a last roll of the dice - throwing away resources they won't have much chance of using ever again.

 

[Yrys]

Tamil Tiger planes raid Colombo, BBC News , 21 February 2009

Video of "Colombo in Tamil planes attack", 1 min 39 sec

Two planes belonging to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have attacked the capital Colombo,
killing two people and injuring about 45, officials say. Both planes were downed, one of them
hitting inland revenue offices, where the casualties occurred, officials said. The building was
badly damaged. The other plane was shot down near the city's airport, which was closed.

The raid comes as the army has driven the Tigers into a shrinking zone of jungle in the north
of Sri Lanka. A pro-rebel website, TamilNet, said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
had claimed what it described as "successful air raids". They involved "diving into Sri Lanka Air
Force (SLAF) Headquarters in Colombo and into the SLAF base at Katunayaka", 35km (21 miles)
north of the capital, the website said.

TamilNet named the two pilots as Col Roopan and Lt Col Siriththiran - describing them as
decorated pilots from the "Black Air Tigers" squad - and showed a picture purportedly of
the men with Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran,
centre, was pictured with the two pilots

Correspondents say the attack amounts to a major embarrassment for Sri Lanka's government,
which had claimed to have destroyed all the rebels' hidden runways and put its small air force
out of action.

'Massive explosion'

The city was put on full alert at about 2130 (1600 GMT) on Friday as electricity was cut and
searchlights and tracer fire from anti-aircraft guns cut through the night sky. Briton Barry Walker
told the BBC that he was in a central Colombo hotel when the blackout hit. "We were sitting by
the swimming pool when we heard firing of heavy anti-aircraft guns. Heavy  shell fire. This lasted
20-25 minutes... then there was a massive explosion," he said. Mr Walker and other guests were
ushered into the hotel's basement for about two hours until the all-clear was given.

Another witness told the BBC he saw a low-flying aircraft and then heard a huge explosion
by the city's fort, where many government offices are located. The air force headquarters,
which is in the same area, may have been the target, correspondents say.

Jets scrambled

The ministry of defence said a tax office of the inland revenue department was in flames after
one of the planes went down into the building. Most of the windows in the high-rise office block
were blown out and several floors were gutted by fire. The other plane was shot down next to
the international airport, just outside Colombo, and the body of its pilot had been found, defence
spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.

One of the aircraft crashed in
marshland near an airport

Witnesses at the airport told Associated Press news agency that anti-aircraft guns had been firing
followed by an explosion.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the alert began when a suspected Tamil Tiger
aircraft was spotted north-east of Colombo and the capital's air defences were activated. Air force
jets were scrambled to engage the planes. The attack comes as a major Sri Lankan army offensive
has inflicted a series of defeats on the Tamil Tiger forces, pushing the rebels into a narrow area
of jungle in the north of Sri Lanka.

The Tigers have used light planes in the past to attack Colombo and military targets in other areas
of Sri Lanka. The Tigers were believed to have a number of two-seater Czech-made Zlin-143
aircraft fitted with homemade bombing equipment. The propeller-driven planes were reportedly
smuggled into the country in pieces before being reassembled and modified to carry bombs.

About 70,000 people have died in the last 25 years as the Tigers have been fighting for a separate
homeland in the north and east of the country.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The fact that the LTTE managed to squirrel away some prop aircraft (probably used to smuggle) is not all that surprising.  They may have been parked in India OR in plain sight within Sri Lankas government controlled territory.  Having chosen to kamikaze the aircraft is, form my prospective, a last roll of the dice - throwing away resources they won't have much chance of using ever again.

I agree it is a last attempt to stem the tide, plus their out of country PR types are going like mad to create a ceasefire. It's not going to happen, the government smells victory and they intend to take it. The UN and rest of the world should stay out of the fight and focus on helping the civilians in army held territory and making sure the army treats people well. The government needs to canvas money from the world to help rebuild and reintegrate the Tamils into Sri Lankan life, plus give them enough political clout that they will not need to take up arms again.