SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT AIR STRIKES KILL 16

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000013 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2017 TAGS: MOPS PTER PHUM PREL PGOV CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: GOVERNMENT AIR STRIKES KILL 16 CIVILIANS IN THE NORTH Classified By: AMBASSADOR ROBERT O. BLAKE, JR. FOR REASONS 1.4(b) and ( d) ¶1. (C) Summary: On January 2 Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) jets bombed a northwestern coastal area near Mannar. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) website Tamilnet reported that 16 civilians died in the air strike. Government officials countered that the SLAF targeted and hit a known Sea Tiger naval base in an area with no civilians. The Bishop of Mannar, who visited the area after the raid, condemned the attack on civilians and stated there was no LTTE military installation in the vicinity. The Bishop asked for independent international observers to come to the area to verify the facts of the case. Government media accused the LTTE of using "propaganda" to sway the international community. However, early reports from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) tend to support the LTTE version of events. End summary. ¶2. (U) Sri Lankan media featured conflicting stories on the January 2 Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) bombing of a northern coastal area near Mannar. According to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) website Tamilnet, 16 civilians were killed. The Bishop of Mannar, who visited the site the next day, condemned the air raid and sought an international human rights monitoring body to examine the incident. Tamilnet published a letter from the Bishop to President Rajapaksa in which the Bishop said there were no LTTE military installations in the area. However, several newspapers carried stories in which government officials decried LTTE "propaganda" and claimed the strikes hit a Sea Tiger naval base that had been under surveillance for some time. A January 4 Daily Mirror article quoted Defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella speculating that the LTTE had a "tip-off" about the air raid and lured civilians to the area to raise casualties in a deliberate attempt to discredit the SLAF. ¶3. (C) Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) spokesman Group Captain Ajantha De Silva told APAO on January 2 that the SLAF had reliable intelligence that the Sea Tiger base they were surveilling was preparing to carry out an attack in the near future against the Sri Lankan Navy. The SLAF had therefore taken the necessary precaution of a pre-emptive strike against the base. ¶4. (C) However, SLMM deputy operations chief (protect) told Pol Chief on January 4 that an SLMM team had visited the area on January 3 and had found numerous civilian casualties in a small fishing village, but no sign of a Sea Tiger base. She added that even if Rambukwella's claim that the LTTE brought civilians into the area were true, the government had clearly violated the Cease-Fire Agreement. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Embassy will continue to try to clear up the uncertainties surrounding the air strike. However, based on the eyewitness evidence collected by the Bishop of Mannar and the SLMM, it appears that the "intelligence" cited by government sources has let them down in this case. The security forces, whatever the justification for the raid, have handed the Tigers another propaganda boon which can only further undermine the government's international support. In the meantime, Sri Lanka's defense establishment seems bent on pursuing the military victory over the LTTE that has eluded them for more than two decades. BLAKE