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
16th. Acting Spokesperson for the United Nations in Sri Lanka, James Elder,
told us more: