Jaffna Aerial bombing (2008)

December 20, 2008
Jaffna
Aerial bombing
2 +
Killed

What Happened

A 5-month-old child and a 25-year-old male were killed and 13 other refugees including three children were wounded Wednesday when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets bombed refugee settlements in Vaddakkachchi four times, on each sorties bombing the refugees twice. The SLAF bombardment on civilian targets comes in the wake of high casualties to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in its latest offensive push in Ki'linochchi and Jaffna frontiers. The second attack was reported 250 meters near the hospital in Vaddakkachchi. Civilians in Vanni interpreted the indiscriminate attacks, which were repeatedly carried out on displaced peoples settlements, as 'collective punishment' by the Sri Lankan forces that have suffered heavy casualties in the battlefront.

Perpetrators

Sri Lankan Air Force

Sources & References

  • https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=27790

Documented Victim Demographics

Based on victims with documented names and details

Documented Victims (9 names)

# Name Age Occupation
1 Joseph Dharmadevi 15 -
2 Nallathambi Nandakumar 44 -
3 Mahendran Ravishankar 36 -
4 Yogarasa Yogeswaran 30 -
5 Ravishankar Sujanidhi 28 -
6 Raja Mahendran 59 -
7 Sinnaththambi Luxmy 57 -
8 Satkunanathan Nandhini 21 -
9 Balasubramaniam Thangamalar 55 -
Children (age ≤ 12)