QUEST FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
The Sri Lanka Ethnic Issue
The photographs show the severe damage caused to the Vannarpannai Vaitheesvaran temple in the Jaffna peninsula in the aerial bombing by Sri Lankan Air Force planes on May 27 (1987). The Sri Lankan armed forces had launched their offensive to capture the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE on May 26. The Vannarpannai Vaitheesvaran temple was one of 18 centres notified by the Sri Lankan Government, where the Tamil civilians were asked to take shelter. But the temple was bombed from the air. The photographs also show the victims of the bombing - a man, a woman and a child who had sought refuge in the temple.