SRI LANKA: Nine killed as hospital shelled - ICRC

Photo: Sanjay Nallaperuma/Internews

Civilians who escaped the fighting in the conflict-affected Vanni area at a welfare centre in Vavuniya District

COLOMBO, 2 February 2009 (IRIN) - A hospital in an area of heavy fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was hit by shell fire on 1 February, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

“Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital in the northern Vanni region was shelled this afternoon, killing at least two people and injuring at least five others,” the ICRC said in a statement. “The compound sustained two direct hits.” The ICRC later revised its estimate to nine killed and 20 wounded.

“We're shocked that the hospital was hit, and this for the second time in recent weeks," Paul Castella, head of the ICRC Colombo delegation said.

The ICRC, which has staff present at the hospital, was prioritising patients to be evacuated out of the combat zone among 500 wounded civilians, Sarasi Wijeratne, an ICRC spokesperson in Sri Lanka, told IRIN.

Puthukkudiyiruppu is the only functioning hospital in the combat zone. On 29 January, 200 wounded civilians, including 50 severely injured children, were evacuated from the combat zone by the UN and the ICRC.

“While we couldn't determine responsibility, this attack is a clear breach of international humanitarian law,” Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka, told IRIN. “The people killed and wounded were there because they or their loved ones had already been wounded.”

We're shocked that the hospital was hit, and this for the second time in recent weeks.

Safe passage window expires

The shell fire on the hospital came as a safe passage period - announced by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to enable civilians to flee to safe zones - expired on 1 February.

“We have not noticed any important civilian movement out of the Vanni [combat area during the safe passage window],” the ICRC’s Wijeratne told IRIN. The ICRC is the only international agency with a permanent presence in combat areas.

“Fighting has been constant even in the so-called safe area,” she said.

Despite the expiry of the safe passage window, the Defence Ministry said it would continue to follow a zero civilian causality policy in combat.

On 29 January, the Sri Lankan government announced a 48-hour safe passage window to allow civilians to move into a 35sqkm safe zone within areas of heavy fighting in the Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu districts, about 300km north of the capital, Colombo.

Photo: OCHA

Humanitarian access in Sri Lanka as of 28 January and showing Puthukkudiyiruppu town in the north. Full PDF version

Freedom of movement

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcement by the Sri Lankan president of a 48-hour safe passage window in a statement released by his office on 30 January.

“The Secretary-General calls upon the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in particular, to allow civilians in the conflict zone to move to where they feel most secure, including areas controlled by the Government of Sri Lanka,” the statement said.

“He also calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that those civilians arriving from Vanni and other conflict areas are treated in accordance with international standards. Such standards include guaranteeing their freedom of movement, providing basic services and allowing full access by humanitarian agencies.”

The LTTE is encircled in an area of less than 300sqkm by Sri Lankan government forces and has come under increasing international and local pressure to allow hundreds of thousands of civilians freedom of movement within and outside the combat zone.

“The LTTE leadership must live up to its obligations under international humanitarian law to allow those trapped by fighting freedom of movement so they can escape the fighting,” Robert Blake, the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, said during the handover ceremony of US$6.9 million worth of food aid to the World Food Programme (WFP) on 27 January. “And both sides must exercise maximum restraint to ensure civilians are not caught in crossfire. Many civilians have been killed in recent days due to artillery exchanges.”

The UN’s Gordon Weiss told IRIN there were over 300,000 civilians trapped in the conflict zone, including 230,000 internally displaced persons. The ICRC estimates half of that population has moved into the safe zone, where available capacity is shrinking, the ICRC’s Wijeratne said.

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