At least 32 Tamil civilians have been killed and another 24 “disappeared” last month in Tamil-dominated areas of Sri Lanka’s embattled northeast, the guerrillas said on Saturday.
The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blamed government forces for the killings as well as the disappearances from the Jaffna peninsula and the north-eastern areas where Tamils are concentrated.
“The worst affected district is Jaffna,” the LTTE said, adding that some victims were killed by Sri Lankan military air strikes inside rebel-held territory. The military denies targeting civilians and in turn blames the Tigers for using civilians as human shields as well as forcibly conscripting child soldiers.
International rights groups have said that about 1,000 civilians had been killed in the island in the past 20 months while another 1,000 had “disappeared.”
The killings of civilians has increased since December 2005 with the escalation of fighting between troops and the Tiger rebels despite a truce arranged by peace broker Norway.
Tamil leader killed: Sri Lankan soldiers shot dead a senior Tamil Tiger leader when troops pre-empted a rebel attack on a northern defense line, the military said Saturday.
Insurgents were preparing to attack the defense line at Nagarkovil in Jaffna peninsula on Friday but were confronted by troops, triggering a fierce gunbattle, an official at the Defense Ministry information center said on condition of anonymity in line with policy.
He said soldiers confirmed that a senior rebel leader was killed in the fighting. The military did not give the name of the rebel leader.
There was no immediate comment from the Tamil rebels who have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for the country’s ethnic minority Tamils.
(http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C08%5C05%5Cstory_5-8-2007_pg4_16)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment