The first anniversary of the massacre of fifty three school girls by Sri Lankan Air Force jets was marked in Tamil Tiger-controlled Vanni last week. The school girls were killed on August 14, 2006 when four SLAF jets dropped sixteen bombs in repeated passes over the Sencholai-run children’s home.
Some 100 children were wounded, many critically. Girls from various schools in the nearby district of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi were staying overnight at the compound, attending a two-day course in first-aid.
Four staff at the institution were also killed.
"These children are innocent victims of violence," said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said in a statement. The site of the building had been designated a humanitarian zone and the LTTE had passed its coordinates on to the Sri Lankan military via the UNICEF and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
The Sri Lankan government said it targeted an LTTE training camp, killing "50-60 terrorists" and showed journalists what if claimed was footage of the attack. But UNICEF’s Colombo chief, JoAnna VanGerpen told reporters: "we don't have any evidence that they are LTTE cadres."
However, apart from the lone protest by UNICEF, the Sri Lankan air strike on the schoolgirls did not draw any international condemnation .
