Thermobaric Slaughter in Sri Lanka?

Both sides in a bloody conflict in Sri Lanka are alleging the use of a type of enhanced explosives, known as thermobaric weapons.
Government forces are well into the decisive final phase of operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Six thousand civilians have been killed in fighting over the last three months.

On Monday the LTTE,a Tamil group fighting for independence, announced a unilateral ceasefire, apparently to allow civilians to escape from the “no-fire zone,” a coastal strip of about four square miles.

Reports of mass casulaties and gruesome injuries over the past few months is part of what sparked reports about the use of thermobaric weapons, which produce a prolonged pressure pulse that is far more destructive and lethal than standard explosives. There has been considerable concern about terrorists gaining thermobaric weapons such as the Russian RPO-A Schmel, because they can counter standard protection, such as armored vehicles (unless completely sealed) and body armor (which may amplify the blast effect). And the internal injuries caused by thermobaric weapons are difficult for battlefield medicine to treat.
Wired