Sri Lanka hospital shelled; at least 9 dead: ICRC

The Sri Lankan military denied it had shelled the hospital in a Tamil Tiger-held part of Mullaittivu district and blamed the rebels. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam made no comment, but a pro-rebel Web site accused the military of the firing.

“At least nine people were killed and at least 20 injured from the continued shelling,” said Sarasi Wijerathne, a spokeswoman of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombo.

She said the ICRC had urged both sides to allow safe passage for scores of sick and wounded people trapped in the conflict zone.

Sri Lanka's army has surrounded the LTTE in a 300 sq km (115 sq mile) slice of jungle in the Indian Ocean island's northeast, aiming to end a war that began in 1983 and is one of Asia's longest-running conflicts.

The military, which has vowed to hunt down LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, said it had found a luxury house in Vishvamadhu area which may have been used by the reclusive leader.

“Prabhakaran may have lived with his family there,” military spokesman Nanayakkara said.

Concern has grown for the safety of 250,000 people aid agencies say are trapped inside the battle zone, although the government describes those numbers as overblown.

The military has said it would move in to free those trapped by the fighting after a government-declared 48-hour truce lapsed. The military said 224 people had fled government controlled area on Sunday.

“We're shocked that the hospital was hit, and this for the second time in recent weeks,” Paul Castella, head of the Colombo delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a statement.

A United Nations official said there would have been many casualties because the hospital was crowded when the shelling occurred.

“There were shells (striking) before midnight, It seems to have struck the pediatric ward (of Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital), We don't know how many killed or wounded but we know there were many casualties,” U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said.

The military says the Tigers are firing artillery from populated areas inside an army-declared no-fire zone with the hope of creating a crisis to build pressure for a truce.

The Tigers in turn accuse the military of firing into the no-fire zone. The military says it has a policy of zero civilian casualties.

It is nearly impossible to verify accounts from the war zone, off-limits for journalists except on carefully guided tours by the military.

“We don't fire shells on that area. There is no requirement for us to fire into there ... it must be LTTE shells as they are desperately firing,” said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara about the attack on the hospital.

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