SRI LANKA: Amnesty International condemns Vavuniya bombing
amn...@amnesty.oil.ca
## weitergeleitet ans Gruppen-Brett durch Klaus Merkle
## PMs zum Inhalt bitte an den Ersteller, Brett-Mail ans Gruppen-Brett
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 019/00
AI INDEX: ASA 37/03/00
28 January, 2000
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Sri Lanka
Amnesty International condemns Vavuniya bombing
Amnesty International today condemned the bombing of the main post
office in Vavuniya, northern Sri Lanka, in which at least 11 people were
killed, including several civilians, and over 70 people injured, many of
them seriously. The majority of those injured were civilians.
The bomb attack, which comes in the aftermath of a number of suicide
bomb attacks in Colombo in the last two months, is widely believed to
have been carried out by members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE).
The parcel bomb, which had been placed on the counter along with
outgoing mail, appeared to have been targeted at security forces
personnel and police who regularly use the post office to send money
home to their families.
However, Amnesty International pointed out that by choosing a
post-office as its target, the LTTE appeared to have contravened the
principle of distinction in international humanitarian law.
This principle obliges all parties to a conflict to take all measures to
distinguish between civilian and military targets and direct their
attacks only at military objectives, which should apply under all
circumstances.
"The risk to civilians in this attack far outweighed any military
objective as the casualty list so tragically shows," Amnesty
International said.
At least 25 civilians were killed by suicide bombers at election rallies
in Colombo, just days before presidential elections took place on 21
December. Dozens of people were injured in the attacks, including
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and four ministers.
Furthermore, a suspected LTTE suicide bomber blew herself up outside the
office of the Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, on 5 January,
killing 12 people and injuring numerous civilians.
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
****************************************************************
You may repost this message onto other sources provided the main
text is not altered in any way and both the header crediting
Amnesty International and this footer remain intact. Only the
list subscription message may be removed.
****************************************************************
To subscribe to amnesty-L, send a message to <majo...@oil.ca>
with "subscribe amnesty-L" in the message body. To unsubscribe,
send a message to <majo...@oil.ca> with "unsubscribe amnesty-L"
in the message body. If you have problem signing off, contact
<owner-a...@oil.ca>. <owner-a...@oil.ca> handles
only messages concerning list administration. Past and current Amnesty
news services can be found at <http://www.amnesty.org/news/>.
Visit <http://www.amnesty.org> for information about Amnesty International
and for other AI publications. Contact amne...@amnesty.org if you
need to get in touch with the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International.