Jeremy Page | May 02, 2009
Article from:
The Australian
CONFIDENTIAL UN satellite images leaked yesterday appear to show that the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed a safe haven for up to 150,000 civilians fleeing fighting against the Tamil Tigers.
The images, contained in a leaked internal UN report, may constitute the strongest evidence yet of violations of international humanitarian law or war crimes, human rights activists say.
The report by Unosat, dated last Sunday, provides detailed images of the tiny strip of beach and coconut grove - now covering only 10sqkm - where the army has pinned down the Tigers along with thousands of civilians.
The Government declared the area a safe haven or "no-fire zone" on February 12, urging civilians to seek shelter there, and has repeatedly denied using heavy artillery or aerial bombs to attack it.
The Unosat report, based on images between February 5 and April 19, appears to back up the persistent verbal testimony to the contrary from doctors, aid workers and civilians fleeing the area.
"Within the northern and southern sections of the civilian safe zone, there are new indications of building destruction and damages resulting from shelling and possible airstrikes," the report says.
Francesco Pisano, manager of the Unosat program, said it was compiled to help UN agencies and aid organisations in Sri Lanka and was placed accidentally on one of its websites.
He said his analysts had concluded that some of the damage in the images could have been caused only by aerial bombing. "This kind of accuracy you acquire only with air power," he said. "The craters beyond a certain size also make our analysts almost certain that these were air-dropped bombs."
He declined to say which side was responsible. The army says it destroyed the last of the Tigers' small air wing when it shot down two of its planes over Colombo in February.
Human rights activists said the images required detailed analysis and further inquiries but could provide the hardest evidence yet that the army had shelled and bombed civilians. A Sri Lankan military spokesman was unavailable for comment.
The Times
Article from:
The Australian
CONFIDENTIAL UN satellite images leaked yesterday appear to show that the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed a safe haven for up to 150,000 civilians fleeing fighting against the Tamil Tigers.
The images, contained in a leaked internal UN report, may constitute the strongest evidence yet of violations of international humanitarian law or war crimes, human rights activists say.
The report by Unosat, dated last Sunday, provides detailed images of the tiny strip of beach and coconut grove - now covering only 10sqkm - where the army has pinned down the Tigers along with thousands of civilians.
The Government declared the area a safe haven or "no-fire zone" on February 12, urging civilians to seek shelter there, and has repeatedly denied using heavy artillery or aerial bombs to attack it.
The Unosat report, based on images between February 5 and April 19, appears to back up the persistent verbal testimony to the contrary from doctors, aid workers and civilians fleeing the area.
"Within the northern and southern sections of the civilian safe zone, there are new indications of building destruction and damages resulting from shelling and possible airstrikes," the report says.
Francesco Pisano, manager of the Unosat program, said it was compiled to help UN agencies and aid organisations in Sri Lanka and was placed accidentally on one of its websites.
He said his analysts had concluded that some of the damage in the images could have been caused only by aerial bombing. "This kind of accuracy you acquire only with air power," he said. "The craters beyond a certain size also make our analysts almost certain that these were air-dropped bombs."
He declined to say which side was responsible. The army says it destroyed the last of the Tigers' small air wing when it shot down two of its planes over Colombo in February.
Human rights activists said the images required detailed analysis and further inquiries but could provide the hardest evidence yet that the army had shelled and bombed civilians. A Sri Lankan military spokesman was unavailable for comment.
The Times
