Children, elderly fill hospital after SL raid

Colombo, Nov 9: Doctors scrambled to tend infants with head injuries and elderly patients with multiple shrapnel wounds in a Sri Lankan hospital, a day after the army shelled a camp for those displaced from conflict.

Dozens of civilians died in yesterday's shelling, which provoked outrage from rights groups, diplomats and ordinary Sri Lankans.

Many fear a new chapter in a two-decade war with Tamil Tiger rebels will escalate after peace talks collapsed in late October.

''We are treating about 60 patients. All of them are blast injuries, all have head injuries, multiple injuries,'' said Pheesan Ponambalam, nursing officer at Valachchenai hospital in the eastern district of Batticaloa.

''There are more than 10 children, including infants.'' The Tigers say at least 45 people were killed and 125 wounded in the attack in nearby Kathiraveli, while Nordic truce monitors had counted 23 corpses by late yesterday.

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.

Many of the dead civilians had only moved to the camp set up in a school in recent weeks after fierce fighting in August forced them to flee their homes further north.

There are an estimated 35,000 displaced people still in the area around the camp, which lies inside Tamil Tiger territory.

The incident came just days after the government vowed to probe killings, abductions and massacres blamed on both sides since August 2005.

''It is appalling that the military should attack a camp for displaced people -- these are civilians who have already been forced from their homes because of the conflict,'' Purna Sen, Asia Pacific Director for Amnesty International, said in a statement.

''Killing and injuring civilians can never be justified. The government must investigate this terrible attack as a matter of urgency. It must ensure that those responsible are brought to justice to signal to the rest of the military that attacking civilians will not be tolerated.'' 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.

REUTERS

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