You mean the Government you are murdering to overthrow?
Sheesh, the next thing they will want is a check. Oh wait, they already asked for that.
Posted on 12/29/2004 2:33:55 AM PST by kattracks
MULLAITTIVU, Sri Lanka, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Hemmed in by a landmined border in Sri Lanka's northeast, feared Tamil Tiger rebels appealed for help on Wednesday as they dug mass graves to clear thousands of reeking corpses strewn by a deadly tsunami.Cut off from the rest of Sri Lanka by a no-man's land, a legacy of their bloody two-decade civil war for autonomy, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's northern and eastern coastal strongholds were ravaged by Sunday's giant waves.
The Tigers said nearly 10,000 people had perished in areas they control, while almost as many again were missing. The dead represent nearly half of Sri Lanka's overall death toll.
The Tigers' main naval base at Mullaittivu was devastated, as was part of its fleet. Bodies littered the ground like an upturned graveyard and the overpowering stench of death wafted over the area.
Children accounted for the bulk of victims in nearby fishing villages. All 135 children at an orphanage run by female Tigers were swept away to their deaths.
"We have only found bodies so far," said Col. Soosai, head of the Tigers' navy arm, the Sea Tigers. "We have not received any aid from the government yet."
"If the government warned us early when the quake struck, the devastation could have been partially avoided," he said angrily.
The rebels, whom the United States have placed on a list of banned terror groups alongside the likes of al Qaeda, said just 15 of their cadres were among the dead.
A whole batallion of Sea Tiger cadres in fatigues collected bloated bodies and lined them at the roadside ready for mass burial. Some wearing white medical masks and gloves used leafy branches to swish away thousands of flies swarming over the dead.
Few buildings on the coast were left standing. Mangled wreckage of trucks, mopeds and fishing boats lay twisted along the shore, and crumpled bodies were tangled in fishing nets. Telephone lines to the south were disrupted.
Aid workers said that residents in the northeast now faced a new threat, from thousands of an estimated 1 million mostly plastic landmines sown across the region and now uprooted by floodwaters.
FISHING FLEET DESTROYED
Officials said just 12 of 1,500 local fishing boats were still seaworthy. More than 120,000 people in Tiger-held areas had been displaced from their homes, many now housed in makeshift refugee camps.
Roofs sagged, walls crumbled and bricks littered the town. Many distraught survivors could only look on in desperation.
"Of my three children, only one has survived because he was with me in hospital when the wave hit," wept 40-year-old Mary Celestine, speaking in her native Tamil tongue.
The scene mirrored mayhem across Sri Lanka, where doctors took photographs or fingerprints of the dead before speedy burials because morgues were filled to the brim and officials feared a spread of disease.
Holed up in one refugee camp with 1,400 other homeless, 18-year-old Tamil fisherman Rajan Xavier had lost his entire family.
"I have lost three brothers, four sisters, and my father is missing," he cried.
After two decades of war in which 64,000 people have been killed, Sri Lanka's worst natural disaster in living memory has finally given the Tigers and the government a common enemy.
The disaster came as tensions between the two sides over the Tigers' demands for self-rule reached fever pitch. The Tigers threatened just a month ago to break a three-year truce and resume its struggle unless autonomy negotiations start soon.
"The Northeast of the Island of Sri Lanka awaits relief assistance from foreign governments, donor agencies and international governmental agencies," rebel spokesman Daya Master said in an email.
"At present all rescue efforts are by the Tigers and local NGOs," he added. "The fear of the spread of infectious diseases is high."
The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake off northern Indonesia on Sunday. Waves up to 5 metres (15 ft) high crashed onto Sri Lanka's eastern, southern and northern shores, flooding towns and villages and sweeping thousands of people away.
They have a naval base?
They want government help?
They are on our terrorist list?
If we let them alone, disease will wipe them out. Sounds like the 7 plagues in Egypt to me. Let God do what man has been unwilling to do.
Nothing like a giant tsunami to ruin a good rebellion. Shucks.
Children accounted for the bulk of victims in nearby fishing villages. All 135 children at an orphanage run by female Tigers were swept away to their deaths.
So, people that want to bring down the government, now wanted the government to WARN you of potential disaster?
I agree that this is a tragedy with the lose of civilian lives. However, for the rebels, if you are fighting the government, they shouldn't have expected a warning from them either (and this is assuming that the government knew about the problem beforehand).
"people that want to bring down the government now wanted tyhe government to WARN you of potential disaster"
Sounds just like here--democrats,ACLU, Move- on, etc.
From the sounds of this article, the rebels aren't the ones who have been hurt by this. Sounds like it's the innocent, ordinary people hurt as is usually the case. Just on the face of it, this ruling business wasn't all the rebels had dreamed it would be. Just fifteen of the "ruler" rebels were killed, and now large numbers of their "subjects" have died. Is that about the jist of it, or have I missed something?
You are correct...but in the end it doesnt sound like the Indian or Sri Lankan government was ready for this either...
The article does not make this clear, but this is (or was) de facto a state within a state. There are innocent people who were merely going about their lives here.
They are lying about how many of their terrorists died.
The people in their territory are supporting them, otherwise they wouldn't be able to operate.
Which of the innocents would you not bomb in Hitler's Germany?
Those kids would have ended up as child soldiers of the LTTE anyway !!
maybe maybe not...never know....now we wont know...
You mean the Government you are murdering to overthrow?
Sheesh, the next thing they will want is a check. Oh wait, they already asked for that.
Pregnant Women Among Those Slaughtered
Well, I guess they've lost a lot of their support then.
Rather than call them Tigers, they ought to be called by their rightful name.......TERRORISTS
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