COLOMBO, Aug 12: Sri Lankan war planes bombed Tiger rebel positions on Saturday as the fiercest fighting since a 2002 ceasefire left at least 127 people dead, the military said amid mounting concern for civilians.
The government said the new fighting was undermining a Norwegian-backed peace initiative and accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of seeking to return the island to full-scale war.
“The LTTE has intensified its terrorist activities to such an extent that it appears as if they want a full-scale confrontation,” government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. “It may appear that we are at war,” he added.
Sri Lankan war planes pounded Tamil rebel gun positions at Pooneryn near the Jaffna peninsula in the country’s north with heavy shelling reported throughout the night, the defence ministry said.
Fighter planes also bombed rebel positions in Trincomalee in the northeast, sending hundreds of civilians fleeing to schools and churches while troops and rebels traded artillery fire for an hour, officials and residents said.
The fierce fighting on Saturday in the north and northeast from the bombing and the clashes left at least 100 Tigers and 27 security personnel dead and another 280 on both sides wounded, military spokesman Athula Jayawardena said.
“We estimate that at least 100 to 150 Tigers were killed and 200 to 250 were wounded,” Jayawardena said. “We had our share of casualties too with three officers and 22 other rankers (non-commissioned soldiers) and two sailors killed. Eight officers and 72 other rankers were wounded. They have all been evacuated for treatment.”
Sri Lanka’s key foreign aid donors expressed serious concern over a growing humanitarian crisis stemming from the worsening ethnic conflict and called for an immediate halt to hostilities.
The United States, Japan, the European Union and Norway said they were “deeply concerned” by the continued violence which they feared was “seriously unraveling” the 2002 ceasefire agreement.
The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government have blamed each other for the upsurge in violence, which has claimed over 1,200 lives by official count since December, despite the February 2002 truce arranged by peace-broker Norway.
The bombings ended a brief lull in fighting between the two sides which have been pounding each other since July 26 with artillery and mortars in a bitter battle for a waterway in Trincomalee district.
International relief agencies have urged the government to allow them access to deliver aid to people most affected by the latest fighting.—AFP