Students protest SLAF bombings near Vanni schools

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 September 2007, 12:16 GMT]
Students, parents, teachers, and principals in Puthukkuddiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district, protested Friday against the continuing Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing on areas close to schools in Vanni. They marched to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) office in Puthukkuddiyiruppu and handed an appeal, requesting ICRC to intervene to stop the indiscriminate bombings by the SLAF, sources in Vanni said.

Parents in Puthukkudiyirrupu refused to send their children to schools because of the continuing SLAF bombings on areas close to schools in Vanni, and this action triggered the Principals' Association in Mullaitheevu District to make appeals to educational authorities to urgently attend to the situation.

The copy of the appeal was first handed over to Mullaitheevu Zonal Education Director, P. Ariyaratnam, at his office Friday by the Principals Association President, S. Raveenthirarajah, and its Secretary, S. Subramaiyeswaran.

The Zonal Director condemned the SLAF bombings of school environments, and joined the protesters to the ICRC office in Puthukkudiyiruppu. The appeal was handed to the ICRC Administrative Officer, N. Pulenthirarajah.

The SLAF Friday bombing on areas close to two schools in Visuvamadu area had caused alarm among parents in Mullaitheevu district which had been the target of earlier SLAF bombings killing and injuring civilians including children, said one of the principals.

Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfir bombers dropped eight bombs in two sorties Friday between 12:15 a.m and 12:40 p.m on Visuvamadu junction, behind the shops in the area, in Puthukkudiyiruppu DS division of Mullaitheevu distirict.

A 65-year-old man identified as Nagappan and a child aged 3 years 3 months sustained injuries in the bombing while 5 students in a school located 800 meters from the bombed area fainted in shock of the exploding bombs .

An 85-year-old man was killed and 12 civilians, including his son and daughter who is a teacher, a six-months-old baby, a 9-year-old girl and two couples, were wounded when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers attacked Punnai Neeraavi village in Visuvamadu Saturday between 7:00 and 7:25 a.m.

The bombed area is located bordering the Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts.