The report, which was handed over to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya this morning stated: “…the instances of shellings referred to in the LLRC Report were not caused by the Sri Lanka Army and civilian casualties might have occurred due to unlawful acts by LTTE.”
“These acts include firing at civilians fleeing to the safety of Army held areas, dropping of artillery rounds fired by ill-trained LTTE gunners on to civilian concentrations, employment of sub-standard artillery rounds obtained from illegal sources by the LTTE, forced conscription of civilians including children and old people by LTTE for combat purposes, thus exposing them to danger,” the army said in a statement.
The statement says:
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had made some observations pertaining to the Army and allegations made by Channel 4.
