South Asia News
At least five killed, 50 injured in Sri Lanka bus blast
Jan 5, 2007, 16:17 GMT
Colombo - At least five persons were killed and over 50 injured in an explosion inside a bus close to Sri Lanka's capital on Friday evening, police said.
The blast happened at Nittambuwa, 27 kilometres east of Colombo, on the main highway between the capital and central Sri Lanka, police said.
Government Defence Ministry spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella immediately blamed the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack.
'Past records of the LTTE show that they target civilians and there is no doubt that they were responsible for the attack', he said.
A witness speaking from the site said: 'The bus caught fire soon after the explosion and the people are trying to put down the fire and remove the injured.'
The bus was heading from Nittambuwa to Giriulla in the north- western part of the country, carrying mainly civilians belonging to the majority Sinhalese community.
Police said the bomb had been placed inside the private bus and had ripped it apart. The blast happened when the roads were crowded and most people were returning home after work.
Police closed down the main road to evacuate casualties. At least 10 of the injured were said to be in a critical condition.
The explosion followed the deaths of four policemen in the eastern part of the island and two government officials in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
The four police were killed in a claymore mine blast in the Ampara area, 320 kilometres east Colombo. The two officials were killed in an explosion in Nedunkerny, a rebel-controlled area, 360 kilometres north east of the capital on Friday.
On Tuesday, 15 minority Tamil civilians were killed when the air force bombed suspected rebel targets in the north western Mannar district.
A Roman Catholic bishop in the area said all those killed were civilians, but the government insisted a confirmed rebel target had been hit.
Fighting in northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka has escalated over the 12 months, claiming at least 3,000 lives.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Sinhala Dominated NAZI FASCIST Government Delivers Deadly and Bloody New Year 2007 Message
The Sinhala dominated Sri Lankan government has delivered a deadly and bloody New Year 2007 message to the Thamil people by killing 15 people, including 7 children aged 2, 6 and 11 years old children ( all of them limbless and three of them headless) at Padahuthurai, Mannar. Among those killed were a pregnant woman her child and husband. Many others were seriously injured in the senseless early dawn bombing. It is feared that many more of the wounded would succumb to their injuries.
Padahuthurai is a coastal hamlet where 231 persons comprising 46 families lived in 35 huts. Most of them were displaced civilians from Navanthurai and the surrounding coastal villages in Jaffna.
In Padahuthurai they were leading a simple life barely enough to survive by small scale fishing on a day to day basis in the shallow waters.
Sri Lankan Kfir supersonic planes dropped at least 14 bombs each targeting two huts. The Bishop of Mannar Diocese, Rt. Rev Rayappu Joseph, who visited Padahuthurai, has condemned the bombardment calling it 'a crime against humanity.' He said 'It is high time that the international community realizes the state of affairs here and sends a team of observers who can tell the truth to the world.'
The Sri Lankan military as usual has denied those killed are civilians and insists the target was an LTTE naval base. However, the Bishop of Mannar has described military's claim as 'barefaced lie.'
According to the Bishop there were no LTTE bunkers nor could he see neither any sign of their camps nor any individual residence of possible LTTE cadre in or in the vicinity of the area.
Meanwhile, Margareta Wahlström, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator has called for warring parties to stop fighting and resume talks. But she has singularly failed to condemn the indiscriminate and brutal aerial bombardment of innocent civilians by the Sri Lankan air force.
This is not the first aerial or artillery attack by the Sri Lankan armed forces against civilian targets. On August 14, 2006 a total of 56 students and 5 employees died when Kfir planes dropped 14 bombs on Chencholai at Mullaitivu. On November 09, 2006 45 Tamil civilians were killed in Vaharai in Batticaloa district by Sri Lankan artillery. On December 09th and 10th a further 41 civilians died in artillery shelling. Scores were seriously injured. On November 02, Sri Lankan Air Force planes dropped twelve bombs in the Kilinochchi hospital surroundings completely fattening one permanent home, just 600 meters from the hospital, and killing five people who were inside at that time.
The international community is turning a blind eye to the genocidal attacks by the Sri Lankan government against the Thamil people. Co-Chairs comprising US, Japan, Norway and European Union continue to remain dumb and deaf. Not to be left behind India too is indulging in empty platitudes which provide no solace to the disillusioned and suffering people.
If ex-dictator Saddam Hussein could be hanged for committing crimes against humanity - killing 148 people in 1982 following an unsuccessful attempt to kill him and his entourage - it is time president Mahinda Rajapakse is tried for war crimes for killing more than 3,000 Thamil civilians during 2006.
Sri Lankan government tries to portray the Tamils as terrorists while they keep on killing Tamil civilians with air raids!
Sri Lanka is the only so called sovereign country which air raids within itself!
Here is their precision bombing on a Tamil Orphanage!
senchcholai.blogspot.com
This could be done by the Singhala chauvenist hardline communist party (JVP) to give pressure to the current government to start war the against the Tamils!
The 'Final War' for Tamil Eelam is coming and Tamils will get their freedom!!!!
For those nay sayers, remember the Tamil military already run 1/3 of the Island!
They have active police,court,educational,health and banking system. Which is corruption free unlike the rest of South Asia!!!!!
THE SRILANKA NAZI SICK MINDED BARBARIANS ALWAYS USE THIS TYPICAL TACTICS OF BONBING IN COLOMBO BEFORE THEY TAKE MAJOR MEASURE AGAINST TAMILS. THE SRILANKA HAVE BEEN DOING FOR LONG TO JUSTIFY ALL THEIR GENOCIDAL WAR AGAINST ALL TAMIL ORGANISATIONS INCLUDING UN AND SRILANKAN AWARDED TRO.
PLEASE SEE THE NEWS.
SL Police raids TRO Colombo office
Sri Lankan Police, without producing any warrant, raided the Colombo office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation Saturday morning and searched the office, NGO officials at the TRO office in Colombo told media. The raid on Colombo office by the CID, follows after the raids on Vavuniya and Trincomalee offices Friday. 'The continuous harassment of TRO is having a tremendously negative impact on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected people of the NorthEast,' the TRO, the only organization working in some of the most severely affected parts of the NorthEast, said in a press statement Saturday.
Six members of the Criminal Investigation Division had asked for the home addresses of TRO staff of the Colombo office.
On Friday, the CID and Special Task Force personnell who searched the TRO offices in Vavuniya and Trincomalee, seized all the documents, project files, accounts details, computers, check books, vouchers, and computer disks, TRO said.
All personnel at both offices were also photographed and videotaped as were the vehicles and the offices’ interior and exterior.
Four TRO officials and workers were taken to the Police station at 3:30 PM and it was not until 9:30 PM that the last male employee was released, according to a TRO press statement.
Two of the TRO Trincomalee staff were summoned to the Trinco Police station for questioning and remain at the Police Station.
TRO is a legal, functioning NGO registered with the Government of Sri Lanka (Registration No. Number L 50706).
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) froze the TRO Sri Lanka Bank Accounts for 6 months “for investigation” on 28 August.
'TRO continues its humanitarian relief work with IDPs despite the freezing of the bank accounts by the CBSL,' Arjunan Ethirveerasingham, Project Manager and Media Relations officer told media Friday.
TRO's Board of Governors, in a report issued on 26 December 2006, two years after the Boxing Day Tsunami, listed the problems faced by the NGO workers in general and TRO in particular.
There have been 19 major attacks, and numerous minor attacks, on TRO aid workers, offices or projects over the past two years, the report said.
'These attacks have forced TRO to take extra security measures to ensure staff and beneficiary safety. TRO aid workers in some areas have been intimidated, threatened, harassed, assaulted, and 'disappeared' by the GoSL security forces and paramilitary forces.'
TRO projects and IDP camps have been bombed and shelled by the GoSL and hand grenades have been thrown into the Batticaloa and Jaffna offices with the latter also being burnt to the ground.
'The most recent atrocities were the shelling by GoSL forces of clearly designated TRO IDP camps in the Vaharai area,' the report added.
On 8 November 2006 in Karhiraveli, Vaharai 47 IDPs were killed and 136 injured by GoSL shelling. The TRO Children’s Home was damaged and 12 children were injured.
On 10 December 2006 a similar incident occurred when the GoSL shelled 3 TRO IDP camps in Palchchenai, Kandalady, and Vammivadduvan. 40 IDPs were killed and 100 injured in this incident.
In January 2006 seven (7) TRO aid workers were abducted by armed paramilitary gunmen. One of these persons, Mr. Ganeshalingam, was a member of TRO’s Board of Governors, while the others were Pre School administrative staff and the Batticaloa Chief Accountant, Ms. Premini, and her team of accountants. These people remain “disappeared” with no real investigation having taken place by the responsible authorities.
The TRO Batticaloa office has been attacked 3 times on: 7 August 2003, 13 June 2005, and 27 September 2005 by paramilitaries with grenades and machine guns. A TRO Security Guard was killed during the 27 September attack and 2 Staffers injured & 5 vehicles destroyed during 13 June attack. TRO closed the Batticaloa Office soon after the September attack due to the inability of the GoSL security forces to stop attacks and ensure the safety of humanitarian workers.
In August 2006, the Vadamarachchi East TRO Boatyard and the Eachchilampattu TRO Boatyard, 2 of the 6 Boat building facilities that TRO constructed as part of tsunami livelihood projects, were destroyed by the Sri Lanka Air Force.
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JesenJan 5th, 2007 - 16:43:45
Just another typical callous Srilankan tactics to fool the world by bombing their own civilians to blame the LTTE who never ever target civilians but always target the barbaric Srilankan military who have 59 years old history of killing more than 100,000 Tamils, Muslims and Christians and continued to do so even during the peace process and CFA.
Srilanka deliberately starving the Tamils by closing the vital roads and by denying access to INGOs and loacal NGOs to ETHNICALLY CLEANSE Tamils while issuing sound bites to fool the world.
THE UN SHOULD FORM A WARCRIMES TRIBUNAL FOR INVESTIGATING THE ALL KILLINGS OF CIVILIANS -WHICH SHOULD NOT BE CONDONED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR ANY REASON.
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