Thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees fled their camp in Tamil Tiger rebel territory in the island's east today, survivors said, a day after army artillery pounded it and killed dozens of civilians.
The Tigers say at least 45 people were killed in yesterday's attack on the camp, set up in a school in the rebel-held village of Kathiraveli, while Nordic truce monitors said they had counted 23 corpses.
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission spokeswoman Helen
Rights groups and diplomats voiced outrage at yesterday attack, which the military said was in retaliation for rebel artillery fire, while doctors tended infants and elderly patients among at least 125 civilians with multiple shrapnel wounds.
Many fear a new chapter in a two-decade war with Tamil Tiger rebels will escalate after peace talks collapsed in late October.
Nordic truce monitors said they had received reports that thousands of people were on the move in the rebel-held area - where around 35,000 people were camped out after being displaced by fighting which flared further north in August.
"Our monitors saw there were no military installations in the camp area, so we would certainly like some answers from the military regarding the nature and reasons of this attack," said Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir.
The attack came after days of artillery duels between the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the island's north and east, where the rebels want to carve out a separate homeland for minority Tamils.
The military were unapologetic for the shelling, accusing the Tigers of hiding behind civilians.
"They are using the civilians as human shields and are not allowing them to come to government areas," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.
The incident came just days after the government vowed to investigate killings, abductions and massacres blamed on both sides since August 2005.
Many fear the worst violence since a now-battered 2002 ceasefire could escalate into a return to a war that has killed well over 65,000 people since 1983.