The Cost to Civilians of the SLA Misadventure
by the LTTE Peace Secretariat, September 18, 2006
Cost of SLA adventure from Mavilaru to Sampur – lives of 97 civilians - 16 children
The PDF version of the full list of those killed in the SLA adventure from Mavilaru to Sampur.
On 10 August, claiming it to be a “Battle for Water”, the Sri Lankan government launched a massive attack in Trincomalee. The areas administered by the LTTE, even areas far away from the Mavilaru sluice gate, were attacked from air, land and sea. In the end the “Battle for Water” turned out to be only a pretext to kill civilians and occupy LTTE areas. This was clearly proved when the Sri Lankan military shelled even the Head of the SLMM who went to open the sluice gate to let the water flow.
At the end of this military attack, 40 civilians, including 5 children, 4 of them under the age of 5, were killed in the Sri Lankan military shelling.
On 29 August, the military began its attack to occupy Sampur. On 6 September, when the Sri Lankan government claimed “victory”, 44 civilians were dead in the shelling, including 11 children, among them a 3 month old baby.
Fleeing civilians were shelled and killed in these attacks. Sampur looked like a ghost town when “victory” was claimed by the Sri Lankan government. The Table below shows the statistics of civilian lives, the cost of the Sri Lankan government “victory”.
A further 13 civilians were killed in these attacks whose names and other details are yet to be collected. The 100% blockade of the LTTE areas in Trincomalee makes even the task of collecting the names of the dead a struggle. Readers should be reminded that 50,000 refugees created by the “victory” are living under trees unnoticed by the international media.
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