COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — Sri Lankan air force jets bombed a group of ethnic Tamil rebels Thursday, a day after new fighting in the north killed 27 people, the military said.
The jets attacked a gathering of Tamil Tiger naval fighters in the Mannar region Thursday afternoon, a day after troops seized control of a nearby base used by the rebel’s naval wing, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Other fighting across the front lines in the north killed 24 rebels and three soldiers, he said. It was unclear if anyone was hurt in Thursday’s bombing.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not immediately available for comment.
It is not possible to independently verify the military reports because journalists are banned from the conflict zone. Both sides often exaggerate the losses inflicted on their enemy and underreport their own.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced marginalization by successive governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
Meanwhile, Britain’s minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations, Mark Malloch-Brown, said the Sri Lankan government’s successes in fighting the insurgents will be meaningless if it does not strengthen its human rights safeguards.
Human rights groups have accused the government of orchestrating kidnappings, killings and abductions of civilians as the war intensified in recent years.
“For their success to be sustainable, it’s got to involve taking on this human rights agenda in an open minded way, which is intended to create real solutions and end the climate of impunity,” Malloch-Brown said Thursday at the end of a trip here.
While acknowledging that governments fighting armed insurgencies inevitably end up committing some abuses, Malloch-Brown said Sri Lanka has to find a way to deal with its problems if it is to have any hope of retaining a special EU trade deal up for review this year.
“They’ve got to have a systematic plan for how to address these issues,” he said.
The government insists it is safeguarding human rights and has rejected allowing in international monitors to verify allegations of abuse, saying it would be an infringement on its sovereignty.
Sri Lanka lost its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council in May after rights groups heavily lobbied against its re-election.
