Energy News  
After aid killings, Sri Lanka fighting goes on

by Jason Gutierrez
Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, Aug 8, 2006
== ATTENTION -killing, ministry statement /// Sri Lanka troops launched fresh artillery attacks against Tamil Tigers from bases in this port city Tuesday, as grieving relatives prepared to bury aid workers killed in the conflict.

The bodies of 17 employees of French charity Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim, ACF) were brought to the main hospital in Trincomalee as heavy gunfire boomed in the distance.

The battle for access to water from a disputed irrigation dam in northeastern Trincomalee district has raged for two weeks, leaving at least 440 people dead by official count.

The defence ministry said that security forces were keeping up "Operation Watershed" to lift the rebel blockade which has deprived water to some 15,000 farming families.

The aid workers were killed when the fighting which began near the irrigation dam spread to the coastal town of Muttur, where a major battle erupted last week.

An airforce trooper was killed in a suspected Tiger attack Tuesday while three people who escaped with injuries were brought to the same hospital where the bodies of the aid workers were being identified, officials said.

"We will have the autopsies (Tuesday) and release the bodies for the funerals," a hospital official said. "It is likely that there will be several funerals held together, but it is up to the next of kin to decide."

The ACF on Monday suspended its mission to Sri Lanka following the killings, the worst against the charity since its inception 25 years ago.

"These humanitarian workers were clearly identified by their T-shirts as members of a non-governmental organisation," said the group's director Benoit Miribel.

Aid officials said they were not in a position to say how the staffers had been killed, but several witnesses who saw the bodies Sunday said they had been shot dead.

A resident who saw the bodies told AFP that it appeared that the aid workers had been machine-gunned while at work in their office located next to the hospital in Muttur. The hospital was also hit by shells.

"There is no evidence whatsoever at present," Police Inspector General Chandra Fernando said in a statement.

"The police will, however, be able to submit a detailed report subsequent to an autopsy."

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government forces have blamed each other for the killings.

Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said Colombo would ensure a "clean" investigation into the bloodiest attack against a humanitarian organisation in the island's three decades of conflict.

Former US president Bill Clinton, who is a UN special envoy on tsunami recovery efforts in the Indian Ocean, expressed shock at the killings.

The deaths, which came amid heavy fighting in this coastal district, also marked a new low in the island's faltering peace process.

The United States, a key backer of Sri Lanka's Norwegian-led peace process, said it was looking for a way to stop the bloodshed.

"It's a terrible situation and we're quite disturbed by the descent into violence," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"We're going to do what we can to try to bring at least a return to an end to the violence and then, ultimately, go down the road of any negotiations that would bring a permanent end to the violence."

An estimated 60,000 people have been killed since the Tamil insurgency began in 1972.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Hopes fade for hundreds missing after deadly Ethiopian floods
Addis Ababa, Aug 8, 2006
Hopes faded Tuesday for finding survivors from hundreds of people missing after deadly weekend flash floods devastated a town in eastern Ethiopia, officials and residents said.







  • DOE To Invest $250 Million In New Bioenergy Centers
  • Hybrid Solar Lighting Making Progress
  • BP Pipeline Leak Closes Down Biggest US Oilfield
  • Korean Scientist Makes Crude Oil Into Fuel

  • New Check On Nuke Power
  • Swedish nuclear sector out of danger, but political fallout lingers
  • US Says New Pakistani Nuclear Reactor Not Very Powerful
  • Nuclear Plant Faced Possible Meltdown In Sweden

  • NASA Experiment Finds Possible Trigger For Radio-Busting Bubbles
  • California's Model Skies
  • ESA Picks SSTL To Develop Atmospheric CO2 Detector
  • Faster Atmospheric Warming In Subtropics Pushes Jet Streams Toward Poles

  • Papua Logging Industry Riddled With Corruption, Rights Abuses: Report
  • Small-Scale Logging Leads To Clear-Cutting In Brazilian Amazon
  • Debate Continues On Post-Wildfire Logging, Forest Regeneration
  • Malaysia And Indonesia Join Forces To Dampen Haze Problem

  • Food-Crop Yields In Future Greenhouse-Gas Conditions Lower Than Expected
  • Acid rain in China threatening food chain
  • Farmland shrinkage in China threatens grain production
  • Brownfields May Turn Green With Help From Michigan State Research

  • Toyota To Expand Hybrid Car Range In US
  • Ford First To Offer Clean-Burning Hydrogen Vehicles
  • Smart Cars To Rule The Roads
  • Nano Replacement For Petroleum

  • US Sanctions On Russia Could Hurt Boeing
  • Boeing Puts Aircraft Market At 2.6 Trillion Dollars
  • Innovative Solutions Make Transportation Systems Safer Secure and Efficient
  • Joint Strike Fighter Is Not Flawed Finds Australian Government

  • Could NASA Get To Pluto Faster? Space Expert Says Yes - By Thinking Nuclear
  • NASA plans to send new robot to Jupiter
  • Los Alamos Hopes To Lead New Era Of Nuclear Space Tranportion With Jovian Mission
  • Boeing Selects Leader for Nuclear Space Systems Program

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement