Civilians Shelled in Sri Lanka's Shrinking Safe Zone

(22 Jan 09 - RV) The Sri Lankan military allegedly shelled a hospital and a village inside a government-declared “safe zone” for displaced families today, killing at least 30 civilians.

The assault was the deadliest attack on civilians in two years and underscored the rising concern for the hundreds of thousands of war refugees reportedly trapped in the conflict zone in Vanni Northeast Sri Lanka, as the military closes in on the ethnic Tamil rebels' last stronghold.

Health officials report that 67 civilians have been killed in shelling since Tuesday, but that figure only included bodies brought to the morgue.

With the civil war escalating in recent months and the government pushing the insurgents into a shrinking slice of territory in the northeast, aid groups and diplomats have expressed fears over the safety of the civilians trapped in rebel-held territory.

In an effort to coax civilians to leave, the government dropped leaflets throughout the region Wednesday announcing the establishment of a “safe zone” on the edge of rebel-held territory that it would not attack.

The military said civilians who gathered there would then be transferred across the front lines to safety.

But an hour after the leaflet drop, two shells hit a makeshift hospital located in a school in Vallipunam, a village inside the “safe zone”.

Also today the United Nations condemned the Tamil Tiger rebels for violating international law for refusing to allow civilians leave the war zone. T

The UN said their convoy went into the war zone, a region known as the Vanni, on January 16^th. Acting Spokesperson for the United Nations in Sri Lanka, James Elder, told us more: