Sri Lanka; Asia; Eurasia: Tamil Tigers shoot nuns, and civilians- nuns escaping war Zone

(Social Justice South Africa; c.f. Reuters (British; Independent; Secular) 12 / 02 / 2009)

Article by Marc Aupiais

Reuters has reported harrowing stories about the Sri Lankan War: whereby LTTE Rebels ("Tamil Tigers"): have been accused of shooting at civilians who have attempted to flee the war zone. Those shot include nuns.

The Tigers have been careful to attempt good relations with the Church: releasing ten Catholic Orphanage children which were kidnapped to be child soldiers last year. A nun, who had been moving 2 000 civilians from village to village: was told that she could leave: as long as only religious (nuns) left with her. The nuns in this case: stayed with the civilians. This nun, and five others escaped with the aid of the so-called "Red Cross" humanitarian and aid relief grouping.

The Catholic church, and other global voices have called both sides to insure the safety of civilians. Sri Lanka's army claims it is doing such: although a civilian building was earlier hit by artillery.

The Tamil Tigers have ignored repeated requests to let civilians out of the war zone. The group could well believe that having to avoid civilians, may prevent the government from immediately destroying the Tigers. The Tigers are listed as terrorists on several international lists: and the Catholic church has repeatedly in the past worried about civilians who have been in their vicinity.