LTTE attack totally disregarded civilian lives

UN Secretary General condemns mortar barrage on UN workers, Ambassadors:

Walter Jayawardhana

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka which injured senior aid officials, including one from the United Nations and urged both sides in the conflict to halt the bloodshed and resume talks.

In the attack at Batticaloa, US Ambassador in Colombo Robert O Blake and his Italian counterpart Pio Mariani were injured. Mariani was immediately rushed to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital and airlifted to Colombo with head injuries. The European Union also has condemned the attack.

Ban’s statement came in reaction to the shelling by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of a helicopter airfield in Batticaloa where 12 people, including the UN Resident Coordinator and other members of a high-ranking international delegation taking part in a humanitarian assessment mission, were injured, according to a statement released by his spokesperson condemning the incident.

“The attack was in total disregard for the lives of civilians, humanitarian workers, Government officials, and the international community,” Michele Montas told reporters in New York.

“The Secretary-General urges the parties to the conflict to end the destructive spiral of violence and calls on them to make every effort to return to the peace process as soon as possible,” she said.