2ND LEAD

Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 18:44 GMT]
Fifteen civilians including 5 children were killed and 29 seriously injured in the relentless artillery barrage that Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) kept pounding the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Visuvamadu, Udaiyaarkaddu, Chuthanthirapuram and Maa'nikkapuram areas in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday, sources in Vanni said. SLA continued its artillery barrage on the IDP settlements Monday from 11:00 a.m till 12:30 p.m in Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram areas in Vanni killing two IDPs and seriously injuring nine including children.

SLA targeted the IDP settlements behind the Pi'l'layaar Koayil in Chuthanthirapuram junction Tuesday around 1:45 p.m, killing two including a boy.

Two civilians killed were identified as 12-year-old Alagan Pirasanthan and Manickavasagar Sivayogam.

A girl and a youth were blown to pieces while 29 persons including children were seriously injured in the SLA artillery shelling on the IDP settlements in Kuravil area in Udaiyaarkaddu.

The seriously injured IDPs are: Mariyathas, 52, Akamathi, 11, Manonmani, 68, Kavitha, 30, Jeyarooban, 14, Anbarasan, 07, Kirubakaran, 18, Pathmanathan, 44, Raveenthiran, 36, Kalyani, 34, Ravichelvan, 33, Arulanantham, 53, Kankamma, 63, Ravichandran, 39, Paramalingam, 40, Vaksala, 17, Chandiraraj, 14, Sasitharan, 30, Thineshkumar, 30, Rathinakumar, 28, Y. Suresh, 32, S. Rejitha, 15 and Niroshini, 37, Lyon, 47, Sivakumar Ratha, 36, Seeralakan, 23, S. Pirabu, 32, I. Nagarasa, 50, I. Sutharsini, 52 and S. Kalyani.

SLA shelled Tuesday around 4:45 p.m the IDP settlements in Chuthanthirapuram East killing 11 innocent civilians including 3 children.

Sinnathurai Mathanakumar, 33 is one of the three killed and others whose bodies brought to Udaiyaarkaddu, Naddaangka’ndal medical clinic remain unidentified.

Some of those killed are persons belonging to one family.

Nine IDPs seriously injured in the above shelling are, Kannan, 25, Karuna, 38, Kugathas, 30, Saithanya, 18, Thevan, 22, Vasantha, 42, Kanesan, 36, Velautham, 52, Yogalingan, 46.

Meanwhile, an IDP from Maa’raailuppai was killed in the SLA shelling on Theavipuram Tuesday while 10 were seriously injured.

Kaathi Shanmugasuntharam is the person killed and the 10 seriously injured are, K. Ravi, 36, M. Kalaichelvan, 31, R. Sulakshan, 07, Kanagalingam, 55, Vekavanam, 25, Jeyaratnaa, 11, Anbarasan, 07, Thangaiah, 57, Mahinthan, 29, Nagarasa, 39.

The above are admitted to Mullaiththeevu Public Hospital functioning in Va’l’lipunam.

The IDPs on the run lack food, drinking water and medicine as these essential items have become scarce in Vanni.

The two killed in Theavipuram Monday are V. Kirupakaran, 40, displaced from 7, Old Colony in Maangku’lam and Nanthakumar, 30, displaced from Madduvil.

The seriously injured in Theavipuram are K. Chanthirasekaran, 38, A. Saraswathy, 59 and Vekananthan, 35.

The IDPs who sustained serious injury in Chuthanthirapuram are R. Thurairasa, 75, M. Sivakamy, 55, Chudaravan, 04, Kanimozhi, 08, Chinthuja, 07 and Ponnambalam, 74.

The bodies of three IDPs killed in the SLA shelling earlier in Visuvamadu area are kept in Ki’linochchi hospital which is now displaced to Visuvamadu due to relentless SLA shelling.

Two of the bodies were identified as of Sri Pathmanathan Subakaran displaced from Aananthapuram in Ki’linochchi and Arunasalam Kanapathipillai, 72, displaced from Uruththirapuram.

The third body is of an elderly person around 60 years of age.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets bombed Chuthanthirapuram area Monday around 12:30 p.m while SLA shelled the IDP settlement again around 3:00 p.m Monday.

Chronology: