Military denies hospital bombing raid

COLOMBO - Fears were growing last night for scores of Sri Lankan civilians after it was reported that more than 75 people had been killed in the past two days by a Government bombardment of a makeshift hospital in the war zone.

Government health officials working in the clinic, in the tiny patch of land still held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel forces, have claimed that patients, visitors and their relatives were among the dead. They said around 100 other civilians were injured.

The military has denied the reports. Photographs, apparently taken by the health officials, show the intensive care unit of the hospital, set up in a classroom, with two bodies lying on the floor.

One of the officials, Dr T. Varatharajah, said: "There were two attacks today. Sixty-four people were killed and 87 injured. Yesterday there was one attack. Nine people were killed and 15 injured."

The doctor said the clinic was near the frontline and that he had no doubt the shelling had come from Government troops. He added: "Other civilians outside of the hospital were also killed."

The Government has denied shelling the hospital and suggested the deaths might have been caused by a Tamil Tigers suicide bomber.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said: "There is no necessity to put shells into that area. There has been no heavy weaponry used and no aerial intervention. We demarcated this area for the safety of civilians. That is the main reason we resist using heavy weapons."

With journalists and almost all aid workers prevented from reaching the war zone in the northeast, the claims are impossible to verify independently. However, an international source in Colombo said: "We think this report is credible. We think the number of dead being reported is correct."

The makeshift hospital is the only clinic available to 50,000 civilians estimated to be still trapped in the war zone with the remnants of the Tamil Tigers and their leader, Vellupillai Prabakharan.

This latest report comes just days after leaked United Nations satellite images appeared to show shell craters inside the so-called "no-fire zone".

- INDEPENDENT