An act of senseless terror

Manjula Fernando in Kebithigollewa

KEBITHIGOLLEWA: Nothing could have prepared our eyes to the horrific scenes we were about to witness.

Rows and rows of innocent civilians lay dead on the cold cement floor of the Kebithigollewa base hospital morgue. Infants, Children, mothers and fathers were among the innocent victims of a brutal twin claymore attack by the LTTE on Thursday morning.

They paid dearly for braving LTTE threats to vacate the five villages, Yaka Wewa, Wilgaha Wewa, Nika Wewa, Kanugaha Wewa and Halmilla Wetiya located on the brink of LTTE dominated areas.

Soon after the news broke out, all media, electronic, print and international news agencies rushed to the Ratmalana airbase to be flown to the site of the massacre, Vihara Halmillewa, some five kilometres from Kebithigollewa town in the Anuradhapura district.

A small Airforce passenger aircraft was waiting to transport us to the Anuradhapura Airbase. From there a SLAF helicopter picked us up. Our destination - Kebithigollewa Madya Maha Vidyalaya.

All throughout the journey to Kebithigollewa, with only soft images of our thoughts of what had happened, we were more conscious of the rough ride, the sickening jerks the aircraft made when it flew into a thick white cloud.

The open helicopter journey was no different or rather worse. We felt like being in a spinning 'lottery drum' and sudden dives, twists and turns, made the whole experience nauseating.

Finally, we were on terra firma, at the vast play ground of Kebithigollewa Madya Maha Vidyalaya. Across the road stood the Kebithigollewa Base Hospital.

Just one glance at the hospital was enough to explain the gravity of the situation. Hundreds of civilians were scattered everywhere, moaning the brutal killing of their loved ones. Some standing, others crouching and rolling....., unable to cope with the sudden grief.

Fathers wept for their children and wives, mothers for the death of their offspring. Sisters, brothers, uncles and aunts, all had a heart gripping story to tell. They were all innocent victims of an act of ruthless terrorism.

As we walked in, a mother was brought in a wheelchair. An ambulance was waiting to take her to the Anuradhapura hospital. That morning, she had accompanied her 10 year old to the tuition class in Kebithigollewa in that ill-fated bus. But only she lived to tell the tale. "Please, give me my precious son back. I cannot live without him," she wailed.

Passing the scene we directly walked to the hospital morgue. It was there that our emotions took over the professionalism. Rows and rows of bodies lay still and half naked on the floor. Bodies of infants, the most dear, their faces serene and composed. What have they done to deserve this ?

One baby had a big black 'pottu' on his forehead, probably placed by his mother that morning, to cast away all evils, with outpouring affection for her offspring.

The cement floor of the primitive hospital morgue was covered with blood. A father carried the dead body of his baby son in his hands and wailed on the floor, oblivious to the nauseating odour in the place.

Many relatives of the dead crouched on the floor, bending over the faces of their dearly beloved, whom now they have lost forever. Our colleagues from the electronic media and the photographers, snapped out of their trance and started catching every angle of the heart gripping story.

At the time the Kebithigollewa Magistrate and the Anuradhapura Judicial Medical Officer were busy completing the postmortems of the victims inside the morgue.

We then proceeded to one of the wards where the injured were receiving treatment.

There we met Palitha Kumara, 13, an Year 8 student of Halmilla Wetiya Vidyalaya.

He told us his story. "We set off in the morning to go to Vavuniya. I was with my father, mother and two sisters and brother-in-law."

"We were to go to a funeral of a relative brother. He was a homeguard and was shot dead by the LTTE the previous day."

The boy said about 50-60 people including children from his village and the neighbouring villages came in the bus to go to the same funeral. They were to proceed through Kebithigollewa as it was the only bus going to the town from their area.

"I was in the back of the bus." Seconds after passing Vihara Halmillewa he heard a big sound, then another.

One of the two bombs killed the driver on the spot and the bus went berserk toppling to one side after it shot forward about 75 metres.

"I ran to the jungle with my cousin (10 years) and hid there. Then we were brought to the hospital in a threewheeler," Palitha said. The police and the soldiers on road-clearing patrols with the help of the villagers had brought the injured to hospitals, in whatever vehicles were available.

The boy lost his mother and sister in the brutal incident. He was lucky to escape with minor injuries but his father had been critically injured and was transferred to Anuradhapura hospital.

Everyone at the hospital had a similar story to tell. A young mother was leaning against a wall in the corridor of the ward, carrying his two-year-old son. There was a thick bandage on his forehead. They had come to the children's and maternity clinic at the hospital in the ill-fated bus.

In the incident over 35 relatives of an extended family who were going to the homeguard funeral died.

The bus had been carrying mostly the funeral bound, the children and mothers coming to the hospital clinic and grade five scholarship exam students attending tuition classes.

According to the Kebithigollewa HQI whom we met at the site of the explosion, the Tata CTB bus was carrying between 160-175 passengers, although it was designed to carry a maximum of about 70 passengers at one time.

The bus makes three rounds every day covering all the five villages, one in the morning around 7.00 am, afternoon to bring back the school children and then the final trip in the evening around 6 p.m.

The HQI said he was certain the LTTE's target was the civilian bus. "They have set two claymore mines, they were clearly targeting a bigger vehicle and expecting maximum casualties." "There was an army road clearance minutes before the bus passed this particular spot. The bomb was set after that targeting the bus," he affirmed.

A young injured boy in the Kebithigollewa hospital too confirmed this. He said he heard one explosion and there was a little impact and then a second explosion was heard.

One enraged villager came down hard on the Government authorities saying they lacked security and basic public facilities although they risked their lives living close to uncleared areas.

"We have staked our well being, future and freedom. If we give up these villages the country will be gone to the Tigers," he retorted.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, disregarding security concerns visited the scene within hours. A visibly moved President was seen walking up and down the corridors and visiting the wards to console and talk to the victims and their relatives.

Accompanied by acting Army Commander and IGP Chandra Fernando he also went to the morgue and spent time there speaking to the moaners and inquiring about the deceased from the hospital authorities.

After the horrendous accounts we heard from the passengers of the ill-fated Yakawewa-Kebithigollewa bus, no one was really worried about the return journey and had no complaints whatsoever. We returned to the Ratmalana airbase around 6.30 p.m. as the sun was slowly setting over the horizon.