Army, Air Force Chiefs deny LTTE allegations
Ranil Wijayapala
COLOMBO: Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka yesterday
refuted allegations by the LTTE that civilians in Kilinochchi and
Mullaitivu are getting killed and injured due to the shelling of the
Security Forces.
The Commander said the LTTE is creating a human shield in Wanni and
shelling those areas to tarnish the Security Forces’ image.
“The LTTE is holding these civilians as a human shield. We have never
fired artillery in to the civilian populated areas since these areas are
located some 15 Kilometres away from the Forward Defence Lines”, the
Army Commander told the Daily News.
“The LTTE is shelling these areas and trying to put the blame on us,”
the Commander added. The pro-LTTE propaganda machine for the past few
days accused the Army and the Air Force of targeting the civilians in
Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.
The LTTE Peace Secretariat website also tried to blame the Security
Forces for killing and injuring innocent civilians due to shelling into
Mullaitivu district hospital quoting a report filed by the Mullaittivu
GA.
However the website failed to give the full report issued by the
Mullaittivu GA but published only few paragraphs of the report.
The Army Commander said that the Government has already sent a
messages to the people entrapped in Wanni to arrive in Government
controlled areas with troops advancing some 50 kilometres into the Tiger
territory.
“The LTTE is holding them forcibly without allowing them to leave
those areas. If they come to our side we are ready to receive them in
Vavuniya providing them food and shelter.”
According to the Army Commander around 200,000 people are living in
Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu districts along with 30,000 displaced
civilians and the LTTE is keeping them and providing them military
training to be deployed in the FDLs.
Air Force Commander Air Marshall Roshan Gunatilleka also denied the
allegation that civilians are being affected due to air strikes saying
that they were careful in selecting the LTTE targets.
“We are carefully selecting our targets. The LTTE is trying to stop
our air strikes by throwing false allegations,” Air Force Commander Air
Marshal Gunatilleka added.
The Air Force Commander also said that they are extremely careful
when taking targets in civilian populated areas. “Naturally there should
be large scale destruction due to our air strikes. It is unrealistic to
see small scale damage to properties and injuries to civilians as
depicted in the pro-LTTE websites,” the Air Force Commander added. |