Massacre of innocent civilians at Kathiraweli
November 11th, 2006
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The coastal village of Kathiraweli in the Eastern district of Batticaloa was the scene of Sri Lanka’s latest massacre of innocents in its on going ethnic conflict. At least 47 people were killed and 136 injured in an appalling incident where the Sri Lankan Armed forces fired artillery shells and MBRL rockets indiscriminately at an Internal Displaced Persons (IDP) camp and its environs. The majority of the innocent victims were displaced Tamil civilians.
Kathiraweli is a coastal village in the Koralaipattru Division in Batticaloa North. It is quite close to the Verugal river which demarcates the Trincomalee and Batticaloa district border. Kathiraweli is situated along the Batticaloa – Trincomalee road and is about 83 km to the North of Batticaloa town.
The Eechilampatru – Verugal areas of Trincomalee South and the Kathiraweli – Vaaharai – Panichankerny areas of Batticaloa North are under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The continuous aerial bombardment and artillery shelling of Trincomalee Tamil villages in Muthur East and Eechilampatru divisions resulted much destruction and displacement. The bulk of those displaced moved into the Vaaharai – Kathiraweli region and are housed in makeshift refugee camps.
[People in Vaaharai, meeting SLMM officials]
One such camp for IDP’s was located at the Vigneshwara Vidyalayam school in Kathiraweli. It is reported that 6068 people from 1680 families were staying at the school camp and its environs at the time of the attack. Apart from the school buildings a large number of huts and tents had been put up in the school vicinity to temporarily accommodate the displaced people.
The IDP numbers at Kathiraweli had swollen in the last few days as many people from Paalsenai, Panichankerni and Ooriyankattu had moved in due to constant shelling and bombing by the GOSL security forces. Moving from place to place in fear of artillery shelling and aerial bombardment had become almost routine for these wretched of the Eastern earth. It was this camp and its pathetic occupants who suffered the worst on that fateful day.The bavkdrop against which this tragedy unfolded needs to be explained briefly.
Earlier the LTTE had its Trincomalee district in Sampoor in Muthur East division. The LTTE also had a battery of long range artillery stationed there. After the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) had re- taken Sampoor the LTTE relocated these artillery pieces to the Verugal – Vaaharai region. The security forces have been accusing the LTTE of firing artillery from this region against security force camps in Batticaloa North and Trincomalee South. The security forces in turn have been bombing and shelling the Verugal – Vaaharai region consistently and constantly.
According to Defence ministry sources the LTTE had fired 81 mm mortars from the Jungle areas of Kathiraweli at the Trincomalee district army camps in Serunuwara, Mahindapura and Kallar on Wednesday November 8th. The firing commenced at 7. 15 am and went on for 20 minutes. This had resulted in one soldier getting killed and six others (five soldiers and a civilian employee) getting injured. The artillery fire had then become sporadic with a shell or two being fired every forty – five minutes.
The GOSL had recently received some sophisticated radar equipment that was supposedly capable of pinpointing the location of enemy artillery and mortar fire. The mortar locating radars were switched on.The security forces also sent an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to monitor the target area. The spy plane scoured the skies above Vaaharai and Kathiraweli and returned to China bay.
With the pooling of acquired data the LTTE artillery positions were located as being stationed at a point 2 kilometres north – west of the jungle areas in Kathiraweli.Observation and retaliatory points were set up by the field commanders attached to the Kallar base camp. Ground commanders were instructed to “precisely” identify the LTTE gun positions if and when they fired. According to defence ministry sources the LTTE fired two shells at 11. 25 am . The locating radars which were operational then re- confirmed LTTE artillery positions.At 11. 35 pm the army launched its barrage.
Two Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers fired two salvoes each at the “target” Two 130 mm artillery guns supplemented the MBRL rocket fire. The firing was intense from 11.35 to 12. 10. Thereafter intermittent firing continued till 1. 00 pm. Despite the assertion that LTTE positions away from Kathiraweli were being targetted the actuality on ground was totally and cruelly different.
The GOSL artillery shells and MBRL rockets certainly rained on Ksathiraweli but they didn’t hit any LTTE cannons or mortars. Instead they fell somewhat in the centre of Kathiraweli on the IDP camp at Vikneshwara vidyalayam school and its environs housing makeshift refugee dwellings.
Around 120 bulidings, huts and tents were destroyed or damaged. Some shells fell on the Sonobo chilldrens center in Kathiraweli run by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. 12 children were injured. A few shells fell even within the vicinity of the hospital in Vaaharai about 15 km away from Kathiraweli.
” We suddenly heard artillery reports and saw a house nearby exploding and going up in flames. Before we realised what was happening another shell fell on our house” said a victim.” The shells started falling rapidly on the school and nearby places. Everything exploded and burning. We ran screaming everywhere carrying our children” said another.
The human toll was massive. Members of the public, sea tiger cadres and TRO volunteers were engaged in rescue operations from 1 .00 pm to 3. 00 pm. The LTTE’s Thileepan field medical unit administered first aid to victims who were then taken by sea tiger vehicles to the Rural hospital in Vaaharai. Severe restrictions imposed by the GOSL had resulted in an acute fuel shortage in the region. Only LTTE vehicles were running.
The Vaaharai hospital is the only one of its kind in the region. It is hopelessly understaffed and lacks resources. The hospital catering to about 50, 000 people was managed by the Italian Red Cross after the tsunami. With the security situation worsening and further official restrictions only one Italian national and another Sri Lankan Tamil displaced from Eechilampatru hospital function as doctors. The lack of fuel and electricity has hampered the hospital further. There is also a woeful lack of medicine.
According to informed Tamil sources thirty dead bodies – many with mangled limbs – were recovered from the rubble and debris after the shelling spree. A number of injured persons were also brought to the Vaaharai hospital. Of the injured another fifteen died at the vaaharai hospital. Apart from these forty – five dead people another 136 persons were treated for injuries both major and minor.
Meanwhile the ICRC and SLMM had been contacted. The army personnel at the Mankerny camp entry point refused to let them in. The ambulances were also not permitted in. After much pressure and a three hour delay the ICRC and SLMM were allowed in. The ICRC also took a convoy of six ambulances, three cars, one bus and one truck into Vaaharai.. The ICRC brought 69 of the more seriously injured out of Vaaharai to the Valaichenai and Batticaloa hospitals.
Two of those brought in died at the Batticaloa and Valaichenai hospitals respectively. Initially more people were admitted to Valaichenai hospital. Gradually they were transferred to Batticaloa. At the time that this article is being written 60 of the surviving 67 parients are in Batticaloa. Only seven are at Valaichenai hospital. The condition of 17 injured people is said to be critical. 16 of the injured 62 are children below the age of ten.
The number of those killed is 47 at this point of time. 45 of these bodies are in Vaaharai while there is one each in Batti and Valaichenai. The 47 dead comprise 28 males. 9 females and 10 children. Six of the dead children were infants.
The SLMM which undertook a hurried count of bodies at Vaaharai said that they had counted only 23 bodies. The SLMM however said that there could be more bodies. Monitors also confirmed that the firing had come from the army.
Most of the victims in the attack were displaced persons from the Muthur East and Eechilampattru divisions in Trincomalee district. 31, 903 displaced people from 8441 families of Trincomalee are currently in the Vaaharai – Verugal region.Some victims were native residents of Kadiraweli and Vaaharai.There are about 10, 000 such people living in the Koralaipattru North AGA division. There are reportedly 60, 646 displaced people in the Batticaloa district as of Oct 23rd.
Many of the people and IDP’s in the region had been moving from place to place in recent times as the Sri Lankan security forces had been shelling and bombing the area regularly during the past weeks.This column has been spotlighting the pathetic predicament of these people regularly in the past. The Rajapakse regime has been shelling and bombing the people of Muthur East and Eechilampatru from April 25th this year. They have been driven from place to place and finally housed at a IDP camp. Even there these people have no safety or refuge.
The reputed Human Rights organization Amnesty International has issued a statement on the incident. A paragraph excerpted from the AI statement reads thus – “Amnesty International is appalled that the military should attack a camp for displaced people — these were civilians who had already been forced from their homes because of the conflict. Amnesty International condemns all attacks on civilians and is particularly saddened and shocked to see such a large-scale attack on civilians just days after the government’s announcement of its Commission of Inquiry into human rights abuses.”.
After the usual diversionary tactics the GOSL has finally admitted to its “guilt” in the matter. For the first time since he assumed Presidential office Mahinda Rajapakse has expressed regret over Tamil civilians getting killed. Keheliya Ramukwella too has not been his usual abrasive self and has acknowledged responsibility on behalf of the security forces.
Both however are trying to exonerate the army of responsibility for this massacre by blaming the LTTE for using the civilians as human shields. The various army, defence and national security websites also accuse the LTTE of being indirectly responsible for the deaths as they were allegedly using the IDP”s as human shields. While boasting on the one hand that the sophisticated radars in their possession could pinpoint the exact location of enemy artillery the “national security media” also tries to wriggle out of culpability by accusing the LTTE of rapidly shifting its artillery elsewhere..
These purile attempts to apportion blame elsewhere has few takers among discerning observers. “The Island” newspaper which is usually “patriotic” and “pro – national security” has in a hard – hitting editorial (Nov 10th) called for a probe. Here are some excerpts –
” The army cannot trot out any excuses in extenuation of the civilian deaths on Wednesday. The LTTE never hesitates to achieve its military objectives at the expense of civilians, be they Tamils, Sinhalese or Muslims. A professional military must be different from a group of terrorists, if it is to be worthy of its name. ”
” The army must always be mindful of its mission; it has been deployed to protect citizenry and defend the country. A hunt for terrorists must end where the safety of civilians begins. Even if hundred terrorists were to escape, the army must hold its fire if there is the slightest doubt that it will harm civilians. There is no alternative!”.
[SLMM Official in Vaaharai - Photo: LTTEPS.org]
The ground reality also casts doubts on the GOSL attempt to charge the LTTE of using civilians as a human shield. The SLMM questioned people in Vaaharai and Kathiraweli whether there were any LTTE artillery guns or positions in the vicinity of the school camp when it was attacked. The people replied in the negative.
“Our monitors saw there were no military installations in the camp area, so we would certainly like some answers from the military regarding the nature and reasons of this attack,” said Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir to Reuters.
Another Tamil woman told Reuters ” There were a lot of explosions, so many people dead and wounded; “A lot of children died. ” “I jumped into a bunker with my daughter,” she said, clutching two bags containing clothes and a bottle of soda. “My husband stayed behind to protect our belongings. There are thousands of people trying to leave.”
Even though the LTTE may not be guilty of using civilians as a shield in firing artillery at the armed forces the tigers are guilty of restricting civilian movement. The people living in the Vaaharai region are undergoing much difficulty and many have tried to cross over into GOSL controlled territory. This desire to relocate is not necessarily an indictment of the LTTE or an endorsement of the GOSL. It is merely a natural human yearning to seek safety and relative comfort.
The LTTE however has forcibly prevented Tamil civilians frm leaving. One reason for this is LTTE vulnerability if civilians leave en masse. Despite its vintage and the modern guerilla warfare techniques the old dictum of Mao Ze Dong of Guerillas being like fish in an ocean of people still remains valid. So if the people vacate an area it is like the ocean being drained. The GOSL campaign of driving the people out of Sampoor throiugh systematic violence resulted in the weakening of the LTTE in that area. The tigers do not want that to be repeated here.
So the LTTE has been preventing people from leaving. But some have been quietly trickling out. 568 people had fled in recent times from Kirimichai and Kattumurivukulam to GOSL areas. The artillery shelling of Kathiraweli had deep impact on the people’s psyche. Unable to face hardship and danger indefnitely more than 2000 people from Vaaharai – Kathiraveli tried to walk en masse to GOSL areas through the Mankerni entry/exit point. The tigers blocked them at Panichankerny and fired in the air to scare them away. Despite this 283 persons from 61 families have managed to defy the LTTE and come out.They have harrowing tales of experiences at the hands of the LTTE.
A statement issued by the UN has drawn attention to this aspect. Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs has observed ” However, there have been equally disturbing reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) prevented some 2,000 civilians from fleeing to safety. Shelling between the two parties has continued in Vaharai over the last few days.”
“The people trapped in this camp are terrified and feel that they are completely at the mercy of others,” said Allan Rock, Special Adviser on Sri Lanka to the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. “The time has come for all parties to respect the basic human rights of these people, which are simply not being observed at the moment,” he added. After his visit to the camp today, Mr. Rock described it as a “shocking sight.”
Many inhabitants of the Vaaharai – Panichankerny, Kathiraweli region as well as the new influx of displaced people from Muthur East and Eechilampatru – Verugal are living amidst great hardship and grave danger. The aerial bombardment and artillery shelling takes a regular toll. There is practically no economy there. Most people are displaced living in makeshift camps. There is no health, education or sanitary facilities.NGO’s are not allowed access.
Adding to their problems has been the callous and cruel attitude of the GOSL. Only a restricted amount of food has been allowed in under the UN World Food Program. This has been grossly inadequate. Even this distribution has been suspended from Oct 20th. From November 1st all movement to and from the region has been stopped. Even the ICRC was not allowed for more than a week till the Kathiraweli massacre of innocents. The army has made it known to the people that it expects them to vacate the region as soon as possible.
The objective is well – known. The security forces want the people to leave the region as it was done in Sampoor and Muthur East. The armed forces commanded by Mahinda Rajapakse want to take full control of the Koralaipattru division. They want the area de- populated as in the case of Sampoor befire moving in.In order to expedite this de – populating process the army camps of Valaichenai paper factory, Karadikulam, Cadjuwatte and Mankerny have been regulaarly shelling the region. K-firs have also been dropping bombs. Additional security personnel have been stationed at Cadjuwatte and Mankerny in readiness for a ground based offensive.
The writing is on the wall then for the people – both old and new inhabitants – of the region. It is this deprivation, fear, insecurity and frustrating agony that impels these people into seeking safety and relatve comfort elsewhere. The GOSL for its own military reasons wants the peole to leave. The LTTE for its own military imperatives do not want the people to leave. The people most of them displaced persons are caught in the middle. It is sheer hell.
In that context the shelling of Kathiraweli IDP camp does not appear to be an error or miscalculation. It seems a deliberate, merciless exercise to instil terror into the people through massive destruction. The idea apparently is to compel the people to flee the area. This then is state terror at its worst.!
If there is a valid ceasefire on the Kathiraweli attack is a crime against humanity. If there is no ceasefire on then it is a war crime. From another perspective it amounts to Ethnic cleansing. Whatever the definition there is little doubt that the massacre of innocents in Kathiraweli was a deliberate and despicable act. Let me end this article with the concluding paragraph of the AI statement –
“Amnesty International calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to initiate an immediate inquiry by international and independent human rights experts into this incident and all serious violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law. Amnesty International reiterates the urgent need for the Government of Sri Lanka to establish a strong and effective international human rights monitoring operation as a matter of urgency to respond to the dramatic deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation. Such a mechanism must have the full cooperation of both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and the support of the United Nations and its member states.”
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