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May 25, 2010

Ex-Sri Lankan Forces: Top Commanders Ordered Killings of Tamil Prisoners
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New allegations have emerged of war crimes during the Sri Lankan
military’s crushing of the Tamil Tiger rebellion last year. The British
television network Channel 4 says it interviewed a senior Sri Lankan
military commander and a front line soldier who each claim top military
leaders ordered the killings of Tamil prisoners.

Unidentified #1: "Yes, our commander ordered us to kill everyone. We
killed everyone."

Unidentified #2: "Definitely the order would have been to kill everybody
and finish them off. I don’t think we wanted to keep any hardcore
elements, so they were done away with. It’s clear that such orders were
in fact received from the top."

Reporter: "What happened when the LTTE and their families surrendered
with white flag?"

Unidentified #1: "First we arrested them, tortured them, then killed
them. In the final days, we straight killed them. A lot of people died.
A lot of bodies were there. Yes, our commander ordered us to kill
everyone. We killed everyone."

The two former Sri Lankan military members are said to now be in hiding.
A recent report from the International Crisis Group says tens of
thousands of Tamil civilians died in the last months of Sri Lanka’s
civil war, most as a result of Sri Lankan military shelling.



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