Sri Lanka

UN criticises killing of more than 100 children

Article published on the 2009-05-11 Latest update 2009-05-11 15:56 TU

A Tamil girl is held by her mother this weekend at a refugee camp located on the outskirts of Vavuniya town in northern Sri Lanka
(Photo: Reuters)

The United Nations in Sri Lanka described the civilian casualties as a "bloodbath", and one that it had predicted would happen because calls for an adequate humanitarian cease-fire have been ignored. It's believed that more than 100 children were killed.

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The United Nations described civilian casualties in Sri Lanka this week as a "bloodbath". Spokesman Gordon Weiss told RFI that the "large-scale killing of civilians, including over 100 children" showed that "the bloodbath the UN had warned of had become a reality... we saw a huge loss of civilian life"

The Sri Lankan government has blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters (LTTE) of bombarding Tamil civilians. It said on Monday that 250 civilians had been killed or wounded in the attacks.

The pro-LTTE website Tamilnet said the weekend death toll had reached 3,200.

Weiss told RFI that "the civilians are trapped by the LTTE and surrounded by government forces."

Political analyst in Colombo, Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu told RFI that "while both side are accusing the other of being responsible for it, the civilians are clearly the targets of these attacks and if this does not stop it will have appalling repercussions for the movement towards unity and reconciliation, and towards lasting peace."

Claims of deaths and injuries from the area cannot be verified however as journalists or monitors are not allowed access to the area.