At least 52 civilians were killed by shelling in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone, the United Nations said yesterday, while a crowded hospital was hit again and Britain and the United States urged a ceasefire.
“There were 52 killed and 80 wounded from one sector,” said UN spokesman Gordon Weiss, referring to the area of Suthanthirapuramin. “That was like a snapshot of the war zone.” Mr Weiss said he did not know who was responsible for shelling.
Sri Lanka’s military has encircled the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and is confident it will soon win a war that is one of Asias longest-running conflicts. Some 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting since 1983. The US and Britain want a ceasefire so casualties can be evacuated and relief supplies allowed into the war zone.
The Tigers are holding out in a 300sq km (115sq mile) slice of jungle in Sri Lanka’s northeast. Aid agencies say 250,000 people are trapped in Tiger-held areas, but the government says the number is about half that.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the only hospital in the war zone was evacuated after it was hit for a fifth time in three days. The ICRC says at least 12 people have been killed in the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu. “We are shocked that a medical facility has again sustained direct hits. We have grave concerns for the well-being and safety of those who fled,” the head of the ICRCs Colombo delegation, Paul Castella, said in a statement.
In Geneva, where the ICRC is based, about 6,000 Tamils from across Europe protested outside the UN’s European headquarters yesterday to demand international intervention to stop the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka, whose 30-year civil war has cost the $32 billion (€25 billion) economy dearly.
A joint statement by the US and Britain after a meeting between US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and British foreign secretary David Miliband raised serious concerns about the plight of civilians caught up in the conflict. – (Reuters)