Sri Lankan forces shelled a makeshift hospital in the war zone, killing 64 civilians despite a pledge to stop using heavy weapons in its battle with the Tamil Tigers, a rebel-linked Web site said.
A health official in the war zone confirmed the hospital was hit twice by artillery yesterday, though the official declined to say who was responsible. The military denied launching the attack.
Sri Lanka has come under increasing international pressure to halt its offensive against the rebels to safeguard the estimated 50,000 ethnic Tamil civilians trapped by the fighting.
The government, which has cornered the Tamil Tigers in a 5km-long coastal strip, has refused, but it did promise to stop launching artillery and airstrikes into the area.
ATTACKS
The TamilNet Web site said the government hit the makeshift hospital at Mullivaaykkaal twice on Saturday morning.
The attacks killed at least 64 patients and bystanders and wounded another 87, a government health official said.
The official, who said he was not certain of the source of the attack, declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The attack killed a female volunteer doctor and wounded three medical workers, the Web site said.
Though the hospital is inside rebel-held territory, it is run by government doctors.
The government denied the army had shelled the war zone, saying soldiers were only using small arms in the fight to destroy the rebels.
“There is absolutely no truth in these reports,” Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.
ENVOY
Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi, the latest high-profile diplomat to arrive in Sri Lanka in the past week, said he had heard recent reports of the renewed artillery attacks in the war zone, but he had no way to confirm them.
The government has barred journalists and aid workers from the war zone.
The government and rights groups, meanwhile, accused the rebels of holding the civilians as human shields.
The government air-dropped leaflets on the region on Friday, appealing to trapped civilians to flee across the front lines and promising to ensure their safety.
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