According to the SLMM, one child was killed and two civilians injured as a result of the aerial attacks on August 13 and 15 in Nedunkerni and surrounding villages in the Vanni, and adds that in Katkulam a rice mill was destroyed and a Co-op store damaged while two houses were destroyed and a school building damaged.

“SLMM monitors went to the scene to enquire into the incidents. Approximately 4800 families live in the district,” the Monitors said in the report posted on its official website last week. The SLAF however refuted the SLMM claims and said the targets were bombed following days of careful surveillance and analysis. “These were identified targets that we are sure of and not a civilian location. We don’t just go and bomb any area. We do careful surveillance and then take it out,” Air Force spokesman Group Captain Ajantha Silva told the Daily Mirror.

The SLMM meanwhile also said according to the mandate of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed in February 2002 it was not a violation for the LTTE to carry arms as long as it was within the limitations of the Agreement.

“By entering into the CFA, the parties have obliged themselves to total cessation of all military action, hereunder also not to move munitions, explosives or military equipment into the area controlled by the other,” the SLMM said. It further adds that its position is that only the security forces should carry arms in government controlled areas and welcomed recent statements by high-ranking government officials about disarming paramilitaries in the East, which is according to article 1.8 of the CFA.

The SLMM report also notes that it visited the hospital in Madhu, which reported that they lacked medicine due to difficulties in obtaining Government clearance for the transport across the Ulyiankulam Entry/Exit point. SLMM monitors in Kilinochchi also noted concerns regarding the rising commodity prices and difficulties in obtaining travel permission out of the Vanni.

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