The Vaharai bombing is a disputed event in the
Sri Lankan civil war. It occurred on November 7, 2006 when, according to survivors of the incident interviewed by
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
fired artillery at
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
n military personnel from near a school where
minority Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. displaced by the current phase of the
Sri Lankan civil war had taken shelter.
The
Sri Lankan Army
ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம்
, image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png
, image_size = 180px
, caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army
, start_date ...
returned fire and around 45
civilians were killed. Over 100 were injured and admitted to the local hospitals. However, people who were interviewed by
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
claimed that the
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
did not fire artillery. Further, the rebel LTTE denies firing artillery from close to the school. The incident occurred at around 11.35 a.m close to Kathiraveli, a coastal village in Vaharai
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
of the
Batticaloa
Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...
district in eastern
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
The incident
The LTTE claimed the shelling killed 43 displaced Tamil civilians who had been taking shelter after the recent flare up of the
Sri Lankan civil war. However the
SLMM
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was a multinational body that existed from 2002 to 2008 to monitor the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the ''Tamil Tigers'') during ...
counted 23 bodies.
About 300 were wounded, 127 of them seriously. Many were killed when two shells hit school buildings housing a large number civilians.
[
] Shelling also damaged the Sonobo Children's Home seriously injuring nearly 12 infants.
[
]
The tow
Kathiraveliin the Vaharai region is mainly populated by minority
Sri Lankan Tamils
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pro ...
and indigenous
Vedda
The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Veddas, ...
people. It was under the de facto control of the
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
rebels.
The Sri Lankan government responded saying that the refugees housed within the school were being used as
human shields
A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The use of human shields as a resistance measure was popula ...
by the
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
. The Nordic ceasefire monitors, the
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was a multinational body that existed from 2002 to 2008 to monitor the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the ''Tamil Tigers'') during ...
, said they did not see any LTTE military installations nearby.
However the government's account was supported by survivors of the incident who had fled the area and subsequently taken shelter in government controlled territory.
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
reported one survivor saying, "First I heard big guns fired (by the LTTE) from the camp area. I jumped into a bunker. Then the army returned fire and I heard big explosions in the camp."
However,
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
conducted interviews with 12 witnesses to the attack. All witnesses said that there were no LTTE fighters located in or adjacent to the
IDP camp at the time of the attack or directly before. They also reported that the nearest LTTE military base was the Sinnakangai camp on the coast about two kilometers away. None of the interviewees had seen or heard outgoing shelling earlier that day. Another women who lived near the
IDP camp claimed “Before the shelling I heard nothing. It was sudden, we didn’t expect it.” Another man whose children were wounded in the shelling said that there was no LTTE present near the camp and he did not hear any shelling from the LTTE.
Reactions
*
Sri Lankan Government
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...
- Government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said the military had targeted two Tamil Tiger artillery positions but admitted a civilian centre was also hit. "While we regret this whole episode, we also must say that national security is uppermost in our minds. Actions by the defence authorities were inevitable. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been firing mortar and artillery at government positions, as well as civilian settlements, in the region for over a week." Media Minister Anura Yapa said "The LTTE is using humans as shields to cover their operations."
Another defense ministry statement read: "The Tigers had been planning this situation since the beginning of this month by detaining the innocent civilians in those areas by force to be used as a human shield when the time arises."
Tamil legislators from the dominant Tamil speaking party in the Sri Lankan parliament,
Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...
demonstrated in front of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
local offices of
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
[
] and handed over a petition to the UN offices demanding intervention to protect refugees in the island's troubled areas. "We urge your good selves to take immediate action regarding this matter and take steps to safeguard the internally displaced Tamil speaking people and other civilians" the legislators told the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integratio ...
. Subsequently a Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian,
Nadarajah Raviraj
Nadarajah Raviraj ( ta, நடராஜா ரவிராஜ், translit=naṭarājā ravirāj, ; 25 June 1962 – 10 November 2006) was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician. He was Mayor of Jaffna in 2001 and a Member of Parliament for J ...
who had demonstrated in front of the UN offices was shot and killed in Colombo.
[
]
*
Tamil Tigers
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
- There was widespread anger amongst the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers said in a statement on their website, "Is it possible that the Sri Lankan military’s intention was to teach the Tamils the lesson that they, the military, can kill refugees in such numbers, and no one can stop them?"
* The Chief Minister of the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n state of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, M. Karunanidhi, deplored the incident and pondered "how long it could tolerate the Sri Lankan Army's atrocities against Tamils there."
*
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
- The United Nations strongly condemned the attack and considered it an "indiscriminate use of force" on civilians.
*
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
- The international human rights group urged the government of Sri Lanka to investigate the attack on the civilians as matter of urgency. Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director Purna Sen said in a press release, “It is appalling that the military should attack a camp for displaced people - these are civilians who have already been forced from their homes because of the conflict…killing and injuring civilians can never be justified. The government must investigate this terrible attack as a matter of urgency. It must ensure that those responsible are brought to justice to signal to the rest of the military that attacking civilians will not be tolerated.”
*
![US-DeptOfState-Seal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/US-DeptOfState-Seal.svg)
The
US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
strongly condemned the incident and exhorted the "Sri Lankan Government to adopt corrective measures to prevent civilian casualties that also take into account instances where civilians may be used as 'human shields' in the future," and expected "an immediate, independent investigation into the November 8 incidents and bring the responsible parties to justice."
*
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
- A spokesman said they evacuated 74 wounded from a hospital in the rebel-held area to a government-controlled area.
* The
Humanitarian Law Project
The Humanitarian Law Project (founded 1985) is a U.S.-based non-profit organization, working to protect human rights and promote "the peaceful resolution of conflict by using established international human rights laws and humanitarian law."
The o ...
in a letter to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
High Commissioner, severely condemned the actions of the Sri Lankan army and considered the artillery attack on the Vaharai refugee camp a "
war crime".
Accusations of blocked humanitarian aid
The
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
political head for the
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
district claimed "The government has already blocked the relief assistance to the internally displaced persons in Vaharai area. They were provided dry rations under the United Nation’s
World Food Program
The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен ...
and that was too stopped for three weeks." In addition, the LTTE accused the Sri Lankan government of preventing ambulances carrying the injured to pass military checkpoints for nearly three hours.
References
External links
Sri Lankan military shelling kills 65 civilians rebels; abc.net.au; November 9, 2006*
ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6128094.stm/ Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians'; BBC World Service; November 8, 2006
*
Double Standards at the United Nations (UN)Vaharai Displaced: A Pictorial from Humanity AshoreVaharai bombing: A Pictorial by Arjunan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaharai
2006 crimes in Sri Lanka
Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Army
Massacres in Sri Lanka
Mass murder in 2006
Mass murder of Sri Lankan Tamils
School bombings
School massacres
Sri Lankan government forces attacks in Eelam War IV
Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 2006
November 2006 events in Asia