US confirms Sri Lankan army shelling of civilians in 2009

Updated 11:45 GMT Continuing his visit to the island, the US Ambassador at large for War Crimes, Stephen J. Rapp, is visiting the North-East today, along side the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Michele Sison. A tweet by the US Embassy in Colombo caused controversy after it stated that hundreds of families were killed by army shelling in January 2009, with questions raised on twitter whether this represented the official stance of the US government. BBC journalist Charles Haviland later tweeted that a US embassy official has confirmed to the BBC that the tweet represented the "official government stance". See tweets relating to the US visit to the North-East below: U.S. Embassy Colombo        ✔ @USEmbSL Follow Amb Sison and Amb Rapp tour Puthumathalan school and hospital in "No Fire Zone 2" #srilanka 4:06 AM - 9 Jan 2014 U.S. Embassy Colombo        ✔ @USEmbSL St Anthany's Ground - site of Jan 2009 killing of hundreds of families by army shelling #srilanka 3:55 AM - 9 Jan 2014 U.S. Embassy Colombo        ✔ @USEmbSL Amb Sison and Amb Rapp tour site of former UN Headquarters in the "No Fire Zone" in Puthukkudiyiruppu #srilanka 3:44 AM - 9 Jan 2014 U.S. Embassy Colombo        ✔ @USEmbSL Amb Sison and Amb Rapp meet NPC member Ananthi Sasitharan to discuss plight of the disappeared in #srilanka  10:47 PM - 8 Jan 2014 U.S. Embassy Colombo        ✔ @USEmbSL Amb Sison and Amb Rapp visit #Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, express concern for media freedom in #srilanka 10:44 PM - 8 Jan 2014 Charles Haviland @cfhaviland #US emb official confirms 2 BBC that tweet alleging #srilanka army killed 100s of families- pic.twitter.com/4kOYTIiqjz -is "official gov stance" 6:42 AM - 9 Jan 2014