Sri Lanka - at least 64 dead as 'army shells' hospital

03/05/2009| IslamWeb

Artillery shells hit a makeshift hospital in Sri Lanka's northern war zone yesterday, killing at least 64 civilians, according to a government doctor and a website linked to the Tamil Tiger separatists, amid growing international pressure to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped in the area.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara denied the accusation, saying soldiers were only using small arms as they pushed forward to seize the remaining territory held by the Tigers along a small coastal strip in the island's northeast.

The government doctor, who refused to be named, said at least 64 patients and bystanders were killed in two artillery attacks, and another 87 people wounded. The hospital is inside rebel-held territory but is run by government doctors.

PHOTO CAPTION

In this handout photograph made available by Tamil Net, a pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam website, dead bodies are seen lying inside a ward in a makeshift hospital after it was shelled in Mullivaaykkaal, Sri Lanka, Saturday, May 2, 2009.

AP