5TH LEAD

14 civilians killed, 35 wounded in aerial bombardment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2007, 05:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force bombers Tuesday morning bombed more than 25 houses, killing at least 14 civilians, including 6 children, and seriously wounding 35 civilians at the coastal hamlet of Padahuthurai in Iluppaikadavai, 24 km northwest of Mannar town. Medical staff at two local hospitals in the area, Mulankavil and Pallamadu, were struggling to transport the seriously wounded, as an ambulance rushed from Mannar hospital, was blocked by Sri Lanka Army soldiers manning the Uyilankulam entry point.



Only one house remained in the fishing village where 34 houses and huts, flattened in the carpet-bombardment, were ablaze, eyewitnesses said.

Four Kfir bombers attacked the Padahuthurai village, located in LTTE controlled Iluppaikadavai GS division in Manthai West, around 9:35 a.m.

Five dead bodies, including 3 children below age 7, a pregnant woman and her husband, were at the mortuary of Mulankavil hospital. A child of the couple was also killed and a child wounded, medical sources at the hospital said.

Many of the wounded were being transferred to Kilinochchi, located 50 km northeast.

There is no LTTE military installation in the fishing village, entirely flattened in the carnage, according to wounded civilians at the hospital.

Details from other hospitals are yet to emerge.

The SLAF has stepped-up aerial bombardment on LTTE controlled coastal areas in Vanni and Mannar districts.

3 civilians were wounded in Silavattai in Mullaithivu district, Saturday, when Sri Lankan Kfir bombers hit coastal villages twice.



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