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Villagers and survivors of the attack took the wounded to the health clinic in
Kathiravelli and then to the small hospital in Vaharai. Meanwhile, the military
prevented the ICRC and SLMM from accessing the school site until about 4 p.m.
Finally, an ICRC convoy of six ambulances, a bus, a truck, and three cars reached
Vaharai hospital and transferred 69 serious cases to Valaichchenai hospital. 68
On November 10 and 11 Human Rights Watch visited the Batticaloa hospital, which
received other wounded persons. Shrapnel wounds to the stomach, lower back, and
arms and legs were predominant among the women. “Many people were cooking
and were hit by shrapnel,” a wounded woman said. 69
In total, 62 people died. According to hospital records obtained by Human Rights
Watch, 47 people, ranging in age from one to 74 years old, suffered injuries. Twentythree
of these victims were under 18. Twenty-one were women and 26 were men.
Three of these five children died in the Kathiravelli school attack: Gunanathan Suveeka, age 8 (first from
left), Gunanathan Rajkumar, 6 (third from left) and Gunanathan Sarojinidari, 8 (fifth from left).
© 2006 private
68 “Sri Lanka: ICRC Deplores Attacks on Civilians,” ICRC press release, November 9, 2006,
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/sri-lanka-news-091106 (accessed May 7, 2007).
69 Human Rights Watch interview with displaced person, Batticaloa, November 11, 2006.
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Human Rights Watch August 2007