Sri Lankan military ’still killing civilians’

The Tamil Tigers have accused the Sri Lankan military of continuing to bomb civilians after Colombo ordered an end to air strikes in the country’s northern war zone.

Under intense international pressure to prevent further civilian deaths, the Sri Lankan government declared that it would immediately stop air strikes and artillery attacks in its war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Presidential Secretariat said: “Our security forces have been instructed to end the use of heavy-calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons which could cause civilian casualties.”

But the LTTE-aligned Tamilnet website on Monday immediately accused the government of violating its own order and “deceiving the international community.

“Two Sri Lanka air force fighter bombers continued to bomb civilian targets in Mu’l'li-vaaykkaal after the announcement by the Sri Lankan forces that it would not deploy heavy weapons or carry out air attacks,” Tamilnet alleged, citing Tamil Peace Secretariat director Seevaratnam Puleedevan.

Meanwhile, top UN humanitarian official John Holmes met Sri Lanka’s foreign minister to express concern for the estimated 50,000 trapped civilians amid reports of growing cases of starvation and casualties among the population.

Mr Holmes later visited a village south of the war zone to inspect displacement camps overwhelmed by the massive influx of war refugees in recent days.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband heads off to Sri Lanka with his French and Swedish counterparts tomorrow to attempt to mediate the conflict and address the dangers faced by civilians.

They are unlikely to get a warm welcome in Colombo, which has rejected previous British mediation offers, saying that it will only talk peace once the LTTE rebels have been crushed.

A recent government offensive forced the LTTE out of their strongholds in the north and cornered them in a narrow coastal strip less than four miles long.

Expressing concern for the civilians, the rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday.

They asked the international community to press the government to halt its offensive as well, saying that the unfolding “humanitarian crisis can only be overcome by the declaration of an immediate ceasefire.”

The government, which accuses the LTTE of holding the civilians as human shields, derided the appeal as a “joke” and accused the rebels of playing for time.

Copyright Morning Star

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