STATE MINISTER LORD MALLOCH
BROWN EXPRESSES SYMPATHY TO MAHINDA FOR VICTIMS OF LTTE TERRORIST ATTACKS
By Walter Jayawardhana
The British Minister of State and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
with special responsibility for Asia, Lord Malloch Brown told President
Mahinda Rajapaksa at Dorchester Hotel in London that they “feel
huge sympathy for President Rajapaksa, people of Sri Lanka and the victims
of terrorist bombs in the island nation.”
“We wish that this type of violence would end soon,” he said
The State Minister discussed a range of bilateral issues and the need
to continue high level engagement between the two countries.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been blamed for the
terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.
Ater two recent most terrorist attacks in civilian buses the United
Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA) said, the katubedde and Polgolla
bus attacks blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are
against all standards of international humanitarian law and all principles
on which the United Nations is based.
"The targeting of non-combatants is a contravention of international
humanitarian law, for which those responsible must be held accountable,"
OCHA’s news service IRIN quoting a UN official said.
The UN humanitarian office said that the United Nations is renewing
calls for increased protection of unarmed civilians in accordance with
international humanitarian law , in the two bomb attacks targeting civilian
buses June 6 eight hours apart , leaving 24 dead and more than 80 injured.
The UN office said , “In the first attack, a bus full of morning
commuters was hit at around 7.30am by a Claymore mine-type explosion
at Katubedda, a suburb 15km south of the capital, Colombo.
Twenty-two people were killed and more than 60 injured in that incident,
according to police. “The second bomb, in the rear of a passenger
bus in Polgolla town, Kandy District, about 120km from Colombo, left
two dead and more than 20 injured. "These attacks on civilians
are against all standards of international humanitarian law," Neil
Buhne, the UN resident representative and humanitarian coordinator in
Sri Lanka, told IRIN. "They are against all principles on which
the UN is based." The report added,“The latest two bombings
added to the long list of attacks on civilians, especially targeting
public transport, since a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government
and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke down on 16 January
2008.
“Not counting the latest two attacks, at least 14 others have
taken place, most in government-controlled areas, killing more than
200 civilians, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA).
The government has blamed the Tamil Tigers for the attacks, while the
Tigers have accused teams from the Sri Lankan Army of targeting civilians
in areas under LTTE control. Both sides have denied the charges. Contravening
international law "The targeting of non-combatants is a contravention
of international humanitarian law, for which those responsible must
be held accountable,"
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