SRI LANKA:Scores of schoolgirls attending a first-aid course in a northern Tamil Tiger-run district were killed when an orphanage was bombed by the Sri Lankan air force, it was reported yesterday.
The pro-rebel news website Tamilnet.com reported that of the 400 teenage girls staying at the children's home in Chenchollai village in Mullaittivu district, at least 61 were killed and 129 wounded.
A Unicef official in Colombo said its team had yet to return with details of the incident, but other unconfirmed reports put the death toll at 43, with more than 60 wounded. The Sri Lankan military denied its jets had attacked the orphanage.
"It's quite possible the children's home was hit, since the air force has been bombing the area," said Jehan Perera, director of the independent National Peace Council.
"Clearly, the ceasefire is effectively dead, and even the monitors from the international peacekeeping mission have said they might as well go home. The civil war has started again."
Aid agencies estimate at least 100,000 people have been displaced in the past three weeks by the renewed fighting between Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
A huge blast in Colombo yesterday hit the capital's central Colpetty district, home to several foreign missions. Pakistan's high commissioner, Bashir Wali Mohmand, was thought to be the target.
Eight people were killed and about 20 injured when a mine placed in a three-wheeled auto-rickshaw blew up as the Pakistani envoy's motorcade drove by. Among the dead were four soldiers from Sri Lanka's diplomatic security unit.
"Neither the high commissioner nor his family members were hurt, though a back-up vehicle was damaged in the explosion," a spokesman said. He could not confirm if any other Pakistani officials had been injured.
"This is the very first time that a foreign diplomat has been attacked in Sri Lanka," said Mr Perera. "The [Tigers now seem] to be targeting anyone who it feels is helping Colombo in its war effort, and Pakistan happens to be one of the main arms suppliers to the Sri Lankan military." Mr Perera said the army had found the Pakistani-supplied multi-rocket launcher to be particularly effective.