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Hospital shelled in Sri Lanka as fighting escalates

Australian Associated Press - February 2, 2009

Giles Hewitt, Colombo – Shells hit a crowded hospital in northeast Sri Lanka, killing at least nine people and raising fears Monday for thousands of civilians caught in a final military push against Tamil Tiger rebels.

Heavy fighting erupted in the narrow strip of land where the rebels have been cornered, the defence ministry said adding that troops used war planes to bomb suspected Tiger positions while the rebels used artillery.

The ministry said a total of 46 Tiger rebels were killed in separate clashes on Sunday, but did not say if security forces suffered any casualties.

The bombed hospital, which is in rebel-held territory and houses around 500 patients, took direct hits in two separate shelling incidents on Sunday, aid agencies and medical workers said. At least nine patients were killed and 15 injured.

"We're shocked that the hospital was hit, and this for the second time in recent weeks," said Paul Castella, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.

The ICRC did not say which side was responsible for the shelling, but the army denied involvement, saying it was carried out by the rebels in a bid to "discredit" the military.

"We know the exact location of the hospital. We will not hit it," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. "We are ready at any moment to arrange safe passage for civilians in that area."

The hospital is inside the 300-square-kilometre (110-square-mile) area of jungle where remnants of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are staging a final stand against a year-long military offensive.

The United Nations says up to 250,000 non-combatants are trapped in the area. The Sri Lankan government says the figure is closer to 120,000.

Aid agencies say hundreds of civilians may already have been killed in the crossfire and scores more injured, including children as young as 10 days old.

A government-set deadline for the LTTE to allow civilians to leave the combat zone expired on Saturday night, after which the military said it would launch fresh operations to "liberate" the civilians by force.

With the Tigers on the brink of defeat, the government has rejected international calls for a ceasefire, saying it intends to wipe out the rebel force and finally end Asia's longest-running ethnic conflict.

Tiger rebels took up arms in their fight for a separate Tamil homeland in 1972.

T. Varatharajah, the regional director of health services stationed in the damaged hospital, said the shells had hit the staff quarters, the female ward, the mortuary and the kitchen. "It's a very tense situation now," Varatharajah told AFP by telephone. "There is no proper power or water supply and staff are spending their time in the bunkers in between treating patients."

The doctor said many patients' relatives were also staying in the hospital grounds, bringing the number of people inside the compound to around 1,000. "Most of the staff have also moved in with their families," he added.

The UN arranged an evacuation of some 350 wounded people and their relatives from the combat zone last week, and negotiations are underway for the transfer of a further 250 patients from the hospital.

The government has blocked any independent media access to the conflict area and to the camps housing those displaced civilians who have managed to flee the fighting.

The UN children's agency UNICEF says tens of thousands of children are among those caught in the firing line, and that babies as young as 10 days old have been wounded in the fighting.

"We have clear evidence that children are being caught in the crossfire, and that children are being injured and killed," said UNICEF's regional director for South Asia, Daniel Toole.

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