CHENCHOLAI BOMBING - the Height of Cruelty

Chencholai bombing is a disputed event in the Sri Lankan Civil War. It took place on August 14, 2006 when the Sri Lankan Air Forcebombed what they claimed to be a rebel LTTE training camp killing at least 61 children between the ages of 16 and 18, all of them girls. The LTTE, UNICEF, SLMM and UTHR all claimed those in the compound were not LTTE cadres. Sri Lankan army stated it considered the children as LTTE combatants and hence a legitimate target.

Incident & Reactions

The Sri Lankan government claimed to be monitoring the site since 2004 and claimed that it was a training camp and clearly stating that it was not mistaken or wrong target.

The Tamil Nadu state assembly in India passed a resolution termed the Chencholai orphanage bombing as 'uncivilized, barbaric, inhumane and atrocious'.

The human rights organisation UTHR reported that LTTE had organized this first aid class and that these children were not Child Soldiers. It further claimed that this camp was used by LTTE but not as a training camp. 

United Nations spokeswomen Orla Clinton said that students had been killed in the attack and they seem to have been students between 16 and 18, A-level students, from the Kilinochichi and Mullaittivu areas, who were on a two-day training course. 

MASSACRE OF ROSE BUDS . . . A REAL TRAGEDY OF TAMILS

“These children are innocent victims of violence”

Little wonders they, the children grow up aspiring about their future, a betterment that will dawn in the world around them. Adversities are a mountain climb yet they don’t get deterred. A smile and confidence is their trait. American Poet Maya Angelou aptly captures this – “Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives”.

The horror of death from the air pounding the hearts of the young came Monday August 14th, near Kilinochchi – again.

When children are plucked away, violently, hearts bleeds in grief.

These children and their parents faced decades of war, food embargos and then the tsunami.




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