March 1 – A media outlet reported witness accounts of heavy shelling [in the NFZ] by both parties to the conflict. 

March 3 – A source in Valayanmadam reported shelling in the area of the Maththalan hospital. 

March 4 – According to an organization, an aid worker was killed by shrapnel while he was returning from assisting wounded patients move from the Mattalan hospital to a ship in Mullaittivu District around 5:00 p.m. local time. Embassy Colombo reported that 58 people  were killed and 143 injured due to shelling in Ampalavakanai and Mullaivakal. This may be the same incident reported by a source in Mattalan reported to HRW shelling in the NFZ (No Fire Zone) and heavy fighting in the north. Fifteen bodies were brought into the Mattalan hospital. Thirty-nine deaths were reported overall from the NFZ, and 120 people injured. Another organization’s source in Valayanmadam may also have described the same incident in a report on shelling in the NFZ that killed 58 civilians and injured at least 121.

 March 5 – A source in Mattalan reported to HRW that 57 civilians were killed and 154 injured by cluster bombs in Valayanmadam and Mattalan. An organization’s source in Valayanmadam reported that a shell hit a tarpaulin shed, completely burning it. Inside, eight people, including two children, were killed and 23 people were injured.

March 6 – An organization’s source in Valayanmadam reported shelling in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Manthuvil, Iranaipalai, and Salai. 

March 7 – A source in Mattalan reported to HRW that a cluster shell exploded in Valayanmadam, located in the NFZ, and that two cluster shells exploded in another NFZ area, Putumattalan. Fifty-two people were killed and 95 injured. Another organization’s source seemed to corroborate this account in its report that 51 civilians were killed by shelling in the same area 

March 8 – A source in the IDP camps reported to an organization that the SLA fired at his five cousins, a sister and four brothers when they attempted to escape, shooting his sister in the head as the group broke through the lines. The brothers were sent to a detention camp and could not be contacted. An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported shelling that killed over 150 people 

March 9 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported that 21 people were killed in the safe zone. Another source reported 52 deaths and 101 injuries due to shelling in the NFZ. 

March 10 – A media outlet broadcast footage showing army shelling of LTTE positions near Puthukkudiyiruppu, despite GSL pledges that it would no longer use heavy artillery, tanks or aerial bombing. 

March 10 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported that 124 people were killed and 180 injured. Another source reported the same number of dead, and noted that 59 of the victims were children, similar to a message from a third source reporting that 50 children had died in the day’s attacks. Another organization reported between 130-150 deaths and over 200 injuries over the preceding two days. A source near Mattalan reported to HRW that shelling killed over 150 people. 

March 11 – Embassy Colombo reported that 72 people were killed and 91 injured by continued shelling in the NFZ. The U.S. Embassy was told that a multi-barrel rocket launcher sent 40 shells into the NFZ in one barrage, and that 21 of the 72 deaths were of individuals who were in line to receive their food ration. Upon learning of the shelling, an organization spoke with the GSL military in Vavuniya and requested that the shelling cease. An organization provided messages from a source in Mullaittivu with similar details about a multi-barrel rocket launcher attack in Mullivaikkal, wounding 93 people. A source near Mattalan reported to HRW very heavy shelling to the west. Many shells landed within 200 meters of the source. 

March 12 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported shelling in the NFZ, killing 32 and injuring 43. It was unclear whether this is a different incident than one reported by another source, which reported 38 killed and 43 injured in the Vanni. 

March 12 – A source near Mattalan reported to HRW that a shell came from the direction of Thevipuram and hit Pokkanai, 400 meters from the Mattalan port, killing five civilians and injuring many more. Later in the day, the source reported, three artillery shells came in from the west and landed 400 meters from the bunker, south of Mattalan. 

March 13 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported that 52 people were killed and 43 injured. Two other sources sent messages reporting the same number of people killed, noting shelling in Pokkanai, Mattalan, and Mullivaikkal. March 13 – Two artillery shells, which witnesses believed were from the SLA, hit Mattalan. The shelling reportedly killed a child and seven other civilians. Shelling was heavier later in the day. 

March 14 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported that 52 people were killed and 53 injured due to shelling. A source near Mattalan reported to HRW that 52 people were admitted to the hospital for serious injuries. Twenty-five who were admitted died of their injuries. 

March 15 – An organization’s source said that shelling had started that morning in Mattalan. A source near Mattalan reported to HRW that 61 people injured by shells in the NFZ were admitted to the hospital. Five people with severe injuries died after they were admitted. An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported that 62 people were killed and 134 were injured by shelling that day. 

March 16 – A source near Mattalan reported to HRW that a shell, perhaps a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), hit the Mattalan hospital and killed 2 people. March 16 – HRW reported that around 11 a.m. an RPG struck inside the Putumattalan Hospital compound, killing 2 people. March 16 – Satellite imagery showed that the Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital facility, which had shown no visible signs of damage on January 28, was heavily damaged on this date. (See Appendix B, images 1 and 2.) Four days earlier the Sri Lankan military claimed in a press release that the hospital was used by the LTTE as both a command center and a weapons firing site. 

March 16 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported heavy artillery, mortar, and multi-barrel rocket-launched shelling in the safe zone. A source near Mattalan reported to HRW that 55 people were admitted to the Mattalan hospital for injuries from shelling and gunfire in the NFZ, four of whom died. March 17 – An eyewitness who had lived in Valayanmadam reported to HRW an air attack by a GSL combat aircraft at around 6:10 a.m., 500 meters from where people gathered to eat breakfast. About 20 people died in the attack. At around 6:45 a.m. another combat aircraft appeared.

The source and his family hid in a bunker. While they were in it a bomb dropped directly on top of them. The witness’s two-year-old son received burns and an eye injury and his four-year old son received injuries to the head and arm. The witness’s brother was killed along with the brother’s wife and four children, aged nine, seven, and four-years-old, and 1.5 months. Altogether six people were killed and more than 60 injured. That area was attacked about eight times that day. There were no vehicles, cadres, or positions in the area. Around midnight the previous day, the LTTE had moved some heavy weapons on the road, but they were two km away. 

March 17 – An organization reported that a local staff member died after his leg was severed during shelling within the NFZ and there was no access to necessary medical care. 

March 19 – An HRW source near Mattalan reported shelling in Pokkanai. A witness interviewed by HRW reported that in the Pokkanai area about 60 people were injured by two cluster bombs. 

March 20 – An HRW source near Mattalan reported shelling about 100 meters west of the port in Putumattalan, a heavily populated area. HRW later reported the incident in more detail, noting that a source at the makeshift hospital in Putumattalan said a shell hit a shelter about 200 meters from a church in Valayanmadam, killing five people and injuring nine. A local source also reported that seven people were admitted to the Mattalan hospital. One source was critically injured. 

March 21 – An organization informed HRW that a local employee was wounded, sustaining serious head wounds that required immediate treatment not available in the NFZ, and that several of his family members were killed by a shell that hit a shelter. 

March 23 – HRW reported a phone conversation with a source at the makeshift hospital in Putumattalan, inside the government-declared NFZ, which was interrupted by shelling, audible over the phone. Later in the day, the source said that the hospital had received 14 corpses and 98 wounded persons that day. He told HRW that the shelling appeared to come from the direction of government positions three kilometers to the west.

An artillery shell had struck approximately 250 meters from the hospital, killing two civilians and wounding seven others. Another shell struck about a kilometer from the hospital, also killing and wounding civilians. Another HRW source near Mattalan reported shelling in Putumattalan, Mullivaikkal, and Valayanmadam. One hundred and forty-two people were injured, 16 died in the hospital, and many people were killed on the spot. An organization’s source in Valayanmadam reported that 102 people were killed in shell attack 

March 24 – An HRW source near Mattalan reported that an RPG shell hit one of the entrances of the Mattalan hospital. Another shell landed 10 meters in front of the hospital, killing a child. 

March 25 – Embassy Colombo noted that there were unconfirmed reports of continued shelling in the NFZ. A local source reported that 185 injured civilians were admitted to a hospital following a shell attack from a western direction, which was controlled by the SLA, into the NFZ. 

March 25 – An HRW source near Mattalan reported shelling near where hundreds of people were encamped. An RPG shell landed inside the encampment and injured one of the people hiding there. A witness who escaped the NFZ reported to HRW that a multibarrel attack occurred very close to the Hindu temple in Pokkanai. About 20 rockets had struck the area. Mothers were crying and there were a lot of dead children. The bodies were seriously damaged and some of them were missing heads and limbs. Several tents had burned down. Over 75 people were injured. They didn’t think that the area would be targeted because it was purely a humanitarian settlement. The area was thickly populated by tents and there were no permanent houses. When I arrived, many had already been taken to the hospital. Only people with minor injuries were still left.

March 26 – An organization’s source in Valayanmadam reported 38 deaths as of noon. 

March 27 – A foreign government reported shelling in the NFZ at Putumaththalan; the report indicated that one child had been killed and another injured. March 27 –An organization’s source in Valayanmadam reported 61 deaths and 121 people injured in the NFZ. 

March 28 – An organization’s source in Valayignarmadam reported heavy shelling very close to this area of the NFZ. Fifty-one people died, including an entire family of five. 

March 30 – An organization’s local sources reported aerial bombing in the NFZ with jets dropping four to five bombs at a time on three separate occasions. March 30 – An eyewitness who had lived in a bunker about 200 meters behind the Putumattalan hospital reported to HRW that an LTTE vehicle with some kind of weapon fired off two to three shells and then drove away 

March 31 – Embassy Colombo received reports from SLA soldiers and officers on leave from the front line that SLA soldiers had fired at escaping civilians. According to the reports, the soldiers remained concerned about suicide bombers disguised as civilians fleeing the conflict zone and had orders to use their own judgment to decide when escaping civilians might pose a threat. As a result, soldiers reportedly at times fired on civilians fleeing the NFZ. 

March – A foreign government reported the eyewitness account of a woman whose two-year-old son was killed during an aerial attack by the SLA in March. The infant was asleep in his cradle at the Mattalan IDP site when he was killed.       

Source: Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka (US department of State)