COLOMBO, Aug 3: At least 20 Muslims fleeing the fighting raging in the east of the country between the government military and the Tamil Tiger rebels were killed on Thursday and 20 more injured when artillery fell into two Muslim schools serving as temporary refugee camps for the war displaced.
Humanitarian workers also confirmed that on Wednesday an eight-year-old boy was killed and two women injured when artillery fell into a church housing refugees, a majority of them Muslims.
Both the government and the LTTE deny responsibility for the wayward attacks.
When the bombs began falling early Wednesday morning on Muttur, this predominantly Muslim town in the north-eastern district of Trincomalee saw the first mass exodus of Muslims in recent times as the east of the country pummelled headlong into what analysts fear could be a ‘long and unredeemable’ war.
Over 2,000 Muslim civilians have fled their homes, aid workers say, as Muttur is transformed into a scene of heavy battle.
Sources reveal that more civilians from the Muttur are braving the mass-scale bombings, scattering to the town, seeking shelter in mosques, churches and schools but are finding that the heavy advancement by the LTTE into the Muttur town has made it the main theatre of war.
“We have a desperate situation on our hands. Most have fled in a frenzy of fear right under artillery shelling and are now trying to find family members they have lost in the fleeing. The injured have no way of being treated,” says Ismiya Nurul, a humanitarian worker based in the Trincomalee town who was struggling to see if her co-workers based in the area are dead or alive.
Area sources said all phone lines were severed and that there was no electricity in the region. The main hospitals have been bombed, according to latest reports. Humanitarian workers say they fear there might be civilians still trapped in houses as the fighting accelerated sharply on Thursday.
The air force launched its ground and air offensives in the area on Tuesday night, setting off heavy retaliation by the LTTE who, according to sources in the town of Muttur, have taken control of key areas in the centre, including the jetty.
The military denies the reports and says they are trying to smash LTTE strongholds in Muttur as the war with the rebels deepens.
“The Tiger guerillas have formed into small groups and have got into the abandoned houses of Muslims. They are attacking the military from these hideouts,” a senior military official said on grounds of anonymity.
