As Sri Lankan Army repreatedly targeted the last two functioning hospitals in LTTE controlled territory in Vanni killing and maiming scores of civilians, the country’s Defence Secretary declared that hospitals are legitimate targets in the ongoing conflict.
"No hospital should operate outside the Safety Zone...everything beyond the safety is a legitimate target," Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse told the Sky News,
In recent days Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has fired artillery shells targeting the last two functioning hospitals inside LTTE controlled territory in Vanni.
A nurse who was attending a wounded patient at Udaiyaarkaddu makeshift hospital (Kilinochchi hospital) was killed when 3 shells hit the hospital. 10 civilians, including ICRC/SLRC staff stationed in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu, were wounded, according to a civilian source.
This was the fourth attack on Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital in the last few days.
SLA shelled Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital on Sunday February 1, killing nine civilians, including patients and their family members in the ward. More than 15 civilians were injured.
The indiscriminate attack on the hospital has caused panic and tension among the hundreds of wounded civilians at the hospital. The shelling has come despite repeated calls from the medical authorities not to fire shells on the civilian medical facility and within a few hours of a public statement from the ICRC, which said it was shocked by the shelling on hospital twice in recent days.
"Three artillery barrages struck a hospital in Sri Lanka’s chaotic war zone, slamming into its pediatrics ward and its women’s wing and killing nine patients," Associated Press report said quoting ICRC.
Earlier, the Sri Lankan military commander of Vanni SF-HQ had instructed the Government Agent of Mullaiththeevu district to shift the hospital to safety zone, giving an ultimatum to the officials. However, as the attacks continued, the ICRC and UN officials had to seek refuge at the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu.
Earlier, the Sri Lankan military commander of Vanni SF-HQ had instructed the Government Agent of Mullaiththeevu district to shift the hospital to safety zone, giving an ultimatum to the officials. However, as the attacks continued, the ICRC and UN officials had to seek refuge at the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu.
A United Nations humanitarian spokesman in Sri Lanka today voiced concern over the shelling of a hospital in the zone of fighting between the Government and rebel forces, emphasizing the ever-increasing threat to the lives of some 250,000 civilians trapped by the conflict.
Gordon Weiss of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the hospital, in the north-east of the island nation, was shelled numerous times over the past day, resulting in the killing of 11 people altogether, including one nurse.
Mr. Weiss said that it is uncertain where the shellfire came from but that his office had notified both the Government and the separatist LTTE about the damage, but the strikes have not halted.
Analysts point out that Gothabaya interview comments to Sky News is virual admission to the culpability of SLA shelling Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital.
The hospital has around 600 patients, with new people arriving all the time of which hundreds are critically injured and cannot be treated.
Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that the civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.
Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a signatory to the First, Second and Third Geneva Conventions and it ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, by accession to it, on 23.02.1959.
Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a signatory to the First, Second and Third Geneva Conventions and it ratified the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, by accession to it, on 23.02.1959.
