War in Sri Lanka creates a flood of refugees

The offensive was the pretext for a series of air and artillery attacks on key LTTE positions, provoking counterattacks by the rebels. Over the past week, government positions on the Jaffna peninsula have come under sustained assault by LTTE forces. At least 130 soldiers have been killed in fighting near Jaffna up to Saturday and many more wounded. The military claims to have killed hundreds of LTTE fighters, but there is no independent confirmation.

Tens of thousands of people have fled for safety. The exodus has been compounded by the military’s indiscriminate use of aerial and artillery attacks to drive back LTTE attacks. The northern and eastern war zones of the island have already been ravaged by two decades of war as well as the devastation caused by the December 2004 tsunami. According to official figures, there were already 312,000 internally displaced persons at the beginning of this year.

The violence has been escalating since Mahinda Rajapakse won the country’s presidency last November. For months, the military and associated paramilitary groups have waged a covert war, aimed at undermining the 2002 ceasefire and provoking the LTTE into responding. Amid the worsening conflict, 50,785 people were displaced between April to July and another 7,439 fled to the nearby southern Indian of Tamil Nadu.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/sril-a21.shtml