by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, October 20, 2018
ITJP UN repatriates Sri Lankan peacekeeper for his role in 2009 war
…During the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009 Amunupure was
second in command of the 11th Sri Lanka Light Infantry which operated
under the 58th Division. A UN Investigation in 2015 found reasonable
grounds to say the 58th Division was involved in the repeated shelling
of UN sites and hospitals as well as the killing of surrendees and
torture. Amunupure’s unit is named in contemporaneous sources,
including governemnt reports1, as having been involved in the assaults
on Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) town in February 2009 and Putumattalan in
March 2009, both of which involved extensive civilian casualties. The
UN report described doctors in Putumattalan being unable to reach the
dead and dying because of intense shelling and gunfire. At the time
the ICRC, which rarely makes public statements, called the impact of
the military’s attacks on densely populated civilian areas near
Putumattalan’s makeshift hospital “nothing short of catastrophic”2…
.