NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday said India should use all diplomatic and political channels to ensure that Sri Lanka does not slide into a full-scale civil war.

In a statement, the party Polit Bureau urged the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to observe restraint and explore avenues for resumption of negotiations.

Further, the Sri Lankan Government should immediately halt aerial bombing of civilian areas in the North-Eastern Province. Also, the "LTTE, which aggravated the situation by disrupting water supplies near Trincomalee, should immediately halt its provocative actions."

The ceasefire should be adhered to in letter and in spirit by both sides, the statement said, and described as "shocking" the Air Force's bombing of a school in which scores of school girls and boys were killed in Mullaitivu district. Condemning the incident, the CPI (M) said the incident highlights the growing number of civilian causalities since the outbreak of hostilities in the northern and eastern region of the island.

The CPI had on Tuesday condemned the killing of 61 school girls and demanded immediate ceasefire. The incident was "outrageous," party national secretary D. Raja said. He said the situation in Sri Lanka was heading toward a full-scale conflict in which the main sufferers were civilians, particularly women and children, in the Tamil areas.

He demanded that both the Government and the LTTE honour the ceasefire agreement and resume peace talks immediately.

Further, Mr. Raja said India should monitor the situation as any deterioration would affect Tamil Nadu. The Government should not give any impression that it backed the Sri Lanka Army actions against Tamil civilian population, he said.

Target was LTTE camp, insists Colombo

Special Correspondent from Chennai reports:

The Government of Sri Lanka has denied that it had killed 61 school children in air strikes at Naddalamoodankulam in Mullaittivu district on August 14.

"We wish to categorically state that the air strike was carried out not on a school or orphanage but at a training camp of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," said a press release from E.L. Jayawardana, counsellor (information) for Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Southern India.

Regret at casualty

Seeking to "vehemently denounce the LTTE's attempts to mislead not only the Tamil community but the world at large," he said the LTTE had brought great misery upon itself as well as the Tamil community. Expressing deep regret at any loss of life, he said the President of Sri Lanka had repeatedly requested the LTTE to come for negotiations.

The Government of Sri Lanka is committed to a negotiated political settlement for the ethnic issue in the island nation, he said.

As regards the August 14 incident in Mullaittivu, he said the camp was bombarded and completely destroyed by the Air Force, killing over 300 LTTE cadres.

Reconnaissance missions

The raids were carried out after air reconnaissance missions on the camp since 2004, he said. Denying the LTTE's claim that it was a children's home, the release said it was difficult to comprehend as to how such workshop was being held in "an isolated location in the midst of one of Sri Lanka's largest forests."

According to him, the place was being used by the LTTE to provide military training to its cadres.

32 food trucks hijacked

Another press release claimed that the LTTE had hijacked 32 trucks carrying food and essential items intended for the "internally displaced" people in Sri Lanka.

The first batch of 17 lorries carrying food and medical items from Batticaloa to Vakarai were intercepted and taken away by the armed LTTE cadres at Vakarai Predeshiya Secretary's office, it said, adding that another 15 trucks were taken to the LTTE camps and materials were offloaded there.

The vehicles were carrying food, water, tarpaulins, mats, bedsheets, cooking pots and buckets for distribution to the displaced people in the Echilampattai area, the release said.

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