Sri Lanka - Tamil refugee camps

Troops fire on displaced Tamils

Article published on the 2009-09-27 Latest update 2009-09-27 17:37 TU

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ratnasiri Wickremanayake speaks at last week's United Nations General Assembly
(Photo: Reuters)

Sri Lankan troops opened fire on dozens of displaced Tamils at a government-run camp on Saturday. The military insists that soldiers fired in self-defence after dozens of camp inmates pelted them with stones while trying to escape. An anti-government website claims detainees were shot while trying to collect firewood.

Internees at the Manik farm camp stoned the troops and tried to break out on Saturday night, military spokesperson Udaya Nanayakkara said.

"The army fired in self-defence," he said. "These people were throwing stones and were trying to escape."

At least three people suffered gunshot wounds, according to police. Nanayakkara said that 19 have been arrested.

But the Tamilnet website, which backed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in their war with the government, says that six civilians were injured when the army fired on people who had left a camp to collect wood for fires.

A detainee was seriously injured in clashes between detainees and troops on Tuesday, according to Amnesty International. The rights group names the man as Sri Chandramorgan from Kanahapuram, Kilinochchi, and says the incident took place at a teachers' training camp being used as a detention centre.

About 250,000 people are in dentention camps in the aftermath of the war with the LTTE. The government insists that they must stay while guerrillas are weeded out.

At the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka said that resettling them is a top priority but that a "large number" of former fighters are hiding among the detainees.

Earlier this week on a visit to Sri Lanka, Lyn Pascoe, the top political advisor to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, expressed concern over the prolonged detention of civilians.