Srilanka Sencholai Massacre of August 14, 2006

Remembering Sencholai Massacre - August 14, 2006 by Tamiya

Sri Lankan Security Forces bombed the Sencholai Orphanage and killed 61 Tamil School Children and injured 150 in August 14, 2006.

These children have lost their parents in the ethnic conflict or the tsunami in 2004. The Orphanage was ran by the Tamil Tigers rebels and it was a desperate attempt to provide education and future for the orphaned children.

However, that is a reason enough for the the Sri Lankan Security Forces target the Orphanage since it stood for the hope that the these Tamil orphans will emerge with school education and future.


Sri Lankan orphan Tamil girls walk to their classes at a school run by the Tamil Tiger rebels for children whose parents were killed in the war against the Sri Lankan government, in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka, Thursday, June 22, 2006Rights groups are calling for an investigation into a Sri Lankan air force bombing of what the government says was a training center for the Tamil Tiger separatist group and the rebels say was a children's center. The incident has reignited debate about the children who are unwillingly forced to take part in Sri Lanka's bitter conflict.

However, UNICEF has refused the claim these school children are Tamil Tigers.

The United Nations Children's Fund said there is no evidence to support military claims that dozens of children killed in a Sri Lankan air force bombing were Tamil Tiger cadres.

UNICEF Sri Lankan representative Joanna van Gerten said a UNICEF team had visited the site in the northern rebel-controlled district of Mullaitivu and saw the extent of the carnage.

'These were children from surrounding schools in the area who were brought there for a two-day training workshop on first aid, by whom we don't know yet,' she told Agence France-Presse.


In a press release in 2006, the TNA condemned the pre-meditated attack of Sri Lankan Security forces on these Tamil School Children.

According to reports received thus far 61 children – all girls – students in GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L) classes in different schools in Mullaitheevu have been killed as a result of heavy aerial bombardment by Kfir jet bombers of the Sri Lankan Air Force, around 7am this morning on the premises of the “Senchcholai” at Vallipunam, on the Paranthan – Mullaitheevu Road, at Mullaitheevu. Over 150 other children, all girls, also students in GCE O/L and GCE (A/L) classes in different schools in Mullaitheevu have been seriously injured in the course of the same aerial bombardment at the same place. It is feared that the number of deaths would increase.

“Senchcholai” is an institution housing a girl’s home caring for children rendered orphans by war. The children were attending a seminar on First-Aid.

These were all unarmed and innocent children engaged in an educational program related to humanitarian aid.

This attack is not merely atrocious and inhuman - it clearly has a genocidal intent. It is yet another instance of brazen State Terrorism.

Remembering the first anniversary of the attack, August 14, 2007, the PEARL websit stated the following:

Anniversary of Sencholai massacre passes as indiscriminate bombings continue

The home, which had been used to house girls who had lost one or more parents, was part of a campus of four orphanages which also includes a home for the severely disabled, a home for boys, and a children's home. Despite the fact that the area was a humanitarian zone and whose location had been registered with the ICRC and communicated to the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government claimed afterwards that the target they had bombed was a military installation. Their claims were directly refuted by Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) then-head Ulf Henriccson who said, after visiting the site, that they could not find "any evidence of military installations or weapons" and that "It was not a military installation, we can see [that]." Further aerial attacks, such as the November 2nd bombing of the Kilinochchi General Hospital, despite the hospital being clearly distinguishable by the universal symbol of the red cross painted on its roof. The government's attempts to justify these attacks on demarcated humanitarian zones evidences the international accusations of disregard for international law and human rights.

The Government of Sri Lanka must desist from deliberately bombing civilian targets. Each attack that is not criticized by the international community merely gains tacit support for the Sri Lankan government's continual bombardment campaigns. It is reprehensible for a government to kill civilian targets, especially its own citizens. Thus, we are calling upon you to urge the State Department to hold the Sri Lankan government accountable for all its attacks on civilian targets, including children's homes, hospitals, schools and markets. The United States government should withdraw military and humanitarian aid to the Government of Sri Lanka until it respects international norms of human rights.

After three years have passed of such masscre innocent School children, the Tamils in Sri Lanka are facing worse living conditions with no hope for recognizition of freedom and equality in Sri Lanka.

There will be a Sencholai Massacre - Memorial Candlelight vigil at Dundas square and walk to Nathan Phillips square on August 14, 2009 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The event is organized by the Canadian HART team.


NowPublic.com

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61 schoolgirls killed, 129 wounded in airstrike

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 04:15 GMT]
At least 61 schoolgirls were killed and 129 were wounded when Sri Lankan Kfir jets bombed a children's home compound in Mullaithivu district Monday morning where schoolgirls were attending a residential course on first aid, LTTE officials at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi said. Ambulances were rushing the wounded, many of whom are bleeding badly, to hospitals, sources said. Officials of the LTTE, briefing reporters in Kilinochchi, described the attack as “a horrible act of terror” by the Sri Lankan armed forces. UN’s child agency, UNICEF, and international truce monitors have visited the scene of the carnage.



Four Kfir jet bombers of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) dropped 16 bombs on the premises of the Sencholai children’s home in Vallipunam on Paranthan-Mullaithivu road, killing at least 61 schoolgirls who were attending

33 bodies have been taken to Puthukudiyiruppu hospital. Other bodies, in severely damaged state, were being identified.

More than 400 schoolgirls were staying in Chencholai. Kfir bombers were flown to the target without circling over the attack site, civilian sources said.

schoolgirls killed


52 wounded girls were rushed to Mullaithivu hospital. 13 were admitted at Puthukudiyiruppu hospital. At least 64 wounded were taken to Kilinochchi hospital.

Girls from various schools in the Mullaitivu district were staying overnight at the compound, attending a course in first-aid, LTTE officials in Kilinochchi said.

The officials at the LTTE Peace Secretariat denounced the Sri Lankan airstrike as “a horrible act of terror.”

They condemned the “deliberate, cold-blooded and inhumane” targeting of the schoolgirls compound by the daylight air raid.

The LTTE Peace Secretariat urged representatives of international agencies in Kilinochchi, including UNICEF, to visit the site of the bombing.

They also urged the international Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), overseeing the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) to attend the site.

In September 1999, SLAF jets killed 21 people in a similar daylight raid.

Commenting at the time, in 1999, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said: “We can confirm that 21 civilians were killed consequent to the air strike at Manthuvil junction …The ICRC deplores the fact that the air strikes were carried out in a civilian area.”

The ICRC is yet to comment on the Sencholai bombing.



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Sencholai attack "pre-meditated, deliberate and vicious"- TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 11:23 GMT]
The parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) condemned Sri Lankan government’s attack on Sencholai childrens' home as "not merely atrocious and inhuman - it clearly has a genocidal intent...The heavy aerial bombardment on the premises clearly indicates that the attack was premeditated, deliberate and vicious," and appealed to the International Community "to take the earliest possible action to stop the Sri Lankan State from proceeding with its genocidal program," in an urgent press release issued in Colombo Monday.

schoolgirls killed

Full text of the press release follows:

URGENT PRESS RELEASE

According to reports received thus far 61 children – all girls – students in GCE (O/L) and GCE (A/L) classes in different schools in Mullaitheevu have been killed as a result of heavy aerial bombardment by Kfir jet bombers of the Sri Lankan Air Force, around 7am this morning on the premises of the “Senchcholai” at Vallipunam, on the Paranthan – Mullaitheevu Road, at Mullaitheevu. Over 150 other children, all girls, also students in GCE O/L and GCE (A/L) classes in different schools in Mullaitheevu have been seriously injured in the course of the same aerial bombardment at the same place. It is feared that the number of deaths would increase.

“Senchcholai” is an institution housing a girl’s home caring for children rendered orphans by war. The children were attending a seminar on First-Aid.

These were all unarmed and innocent children engaged in an educational program related to humanitarian aid.

The heavy aerial bombardment on the premises clearly indicates that the attack was premeditated deliberate and vicious. The heavy repeated aerial bombardment of the same premises clearly indicates the bombing was definitely not accidental. The ferocity of the attack clearly indicates that its objective was to cause the maximum possible casualties. The objective was to kill the maximum number of Tamil children. It is significant that thus far there are no reports of adult casualties.

This attack is not merely atrocious and inhuman - it clearly has a genocidal intent. It is yet another instance of brazen State Terrorism.

In yet another incident, displaced Tamil civilians who had taken refuge at the Philip Neriyar Church at Allaipiddy came under heavy artillery fire around midnight on Saturday the 12th of August 2006. Over 25 Tamil civilians were killed by this attack and over 50 other Tamil civilians grievously injured.

In both these instances, the Government Military Forces were definitely aware that the victims would be the Tamil civilian population. The attacks were nevertheless carried out with callous disregard to the sanctity and security of Tamil civilian life.

The government’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment and artillery shelling has in the recent past caused heavy civilian casualties in several parts of the Tamil speaking Northeastern region.

We appeal on behalf of the Tamil speaking civilian population to the International Community particularly to India, to take the earliest possible action to stop the Sri Lankan State from proceeding with its genocidal program.

We strongly condemn the massacre of innocent children at “Senchcholai” Mullaitheevu and innocent civilians at Philip Neriyar Church at Allaipiddy.