|
Sri Lanka: UN deplores suicide attack on refugee camp
(AKI) - The United Nations has deplored a suicide attack allegedly carried out by a female bomber on Monday at a registration centre which killed many civilians, including children. The refugees had fled the fierce fighting in northern Sri Lanka between the army and Tamil separatist rebels."The UN reiterates that civilians must be distinguished from combatants, and protected from the fighting," the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka said in a statement. A female Tamil Tiger rebel reportedly blew herself up at a registration centre in the Vishwamadu area of Mullaitivu district. Over twenty civilians died in the attack. The attack comes amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the northern part of the South-East Asian nation, where some 250,000 civilians are trapped by fighting between Government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers. "It calls once again on the LTTE to separate its forces from civilians under its control," the UN statement continued, adding that those killed had already been forced from their homes by fighting, and had endured terrible hardship. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior UN officials have repeatedly called on both the rebels and the government to do all in their power to ensure safe passage for those fleeing the conflict zone, and to ensure the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law. Posted by: Fred 2009-02-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=262220 |