Tuesday, 22 August 2006A leading human rights group has urged Sri Lanka's government and Tamil rebels to let humanitarian aid reach tens of thousands of citizens trapped by fighting in the country's north, as Sri Lankan war planes bombed a suspected Tiger munitions dump, military officials said.
Israeli-built Kfir jets hit Tiger positions at Pallai, about 10 kilometres (six miles) south of their de facto front line at Muhamalai, officials said.
"Just after the air attack, we could hear secondary explosions," a military official in the peninsula said. "It is most likely that their ammunition dump was hit. They are maintaining a radio silence at the moment."
The attack came amid a lull in fighting in the past 48 hours.
Heavy clashes erupted along the de facto front line 11 days ago with what the military said was a rebel push to take their former stronghold of Jaffna.
The rebels have denied launching an offensive and said they were resisting a military advance into territory held by them on the southern edge of the peninsula.
Clashes since August 11 were creating a "crisis" situation for the Jaffna peninsula's 500,000 residents, who face dwindling supplies of food and water, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned in a statement.
"The fighting in Jaffna has had its biggest impact on the civilian population," said Sam Zarifi, the group's Asia research director.
"Both the government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) must promptly act to allow the delivery of food, water and medicine."
The New York-based group said 40,000 residents had fled their homes since violence erupted but remain in the peninsula, whose only road to the rest of the country has been closed.
HRW said aid had also failed to reach thousands of refugees who fled clashes in the eastern districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa earlier this month.
It expressed concern that attacks against aid workers, including the "execution-style" killing of 17 employees of French group Action Against Hunger in Trincomalee, could exacerbate the problem.
"Threats and violence against aid organizations have made a bad humanitarian situation worse," Zarifi said.
"Unless the government and the Tamil Tigers ensure such attacks stop, civilians in need will pay an unacceptably high price."
Hundreds have died in recent severe clashes between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, who signed a ceasefire four years ago.
More than 60,000 people have died in three decades of separatist conflict on the island.
AFP with courtesy of bakutoday
22/08/2006
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Tuesday, 22 August 2006
Sri Lanka
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