Return to War - Human Rights Watch

The salvos landed in and around the Vigneshwara Vidyalayam school in Kathiravelli.
Since August the school compound—about five acres—had housed internally
displaced persons from Trincomalee district, many of whom had fled the fighting
further north in Mutur. At least 2,000 people were in the camp at the time of the
attack, living in the six school buildings and in tin and palm-leaf huts on the
premises. 61
Human Rights Watch conducted interviews with 12 witnesses to the attack. All said
that the shells landed without warning and that, while the LTTE was frequently
milling about the area, no LTTE fighters were located in or adjacent to the IDP camp
at the time of the attack or directly before. The LTTE had sentries in the area of the
camp, ostensibly to monitor the movement of displaced persons, they said, but the
nearest LTTE military base was the Sinnakangai camp on the coast about two
kilometers away. None of the interviewees had seen or heard outgoing shelling
earlier that day.
“Before the shelling I heard nothing. It was sudden, we didn’t expect it,” a woman
who lives next to the Kathiravelli school told Human Rights Watch. 62
“We expected nothing,” another woman said. “Our children were playing and people
were moving about.” 63
“There were no [LTTE] cadre or terrorists there,” said a man whose son and daughter
were wounded in the shelling. “I don’t know why the army attacked.” 64
These and other witnesses explained what happened when the first shells hit. A
woman whose house stands adjacent to the school told Human Rights Watch how
her six-year-old son and three-and-a-half-year-old daughter were wounded when a
shell landed inside their compound as they bathed in a well:
61 According to displaced persons present at the time of the attack, as well as a school employee, the compound had a
rectangular shape. Inside stood a large assembly hall and five school buildings.
62 Human Rights Watch interview with Vaharai resident, Valaichchenai, February 26, 2007.
63 Human Rights Watch interview with Mutur resident, Valaichchenai, February 26, 2007.
64 Human Rights Watch interview with displaced person, Batticaloa, November 11, 2006.
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