Sri Lanka attack kills 45 Tamils

AT least 45 Tamils were killed and 125 wounded yesterday when government forces fired artillery and rocket launchers toward a Tamil Tiger rebel-held region in eastern Sri Lanka, a senior rebel official said.

Seevaratnam Puleedevan, who heads the rebels’ Peace Secretariat, said 125 people were also wounded, some of them seriously.

He said the victims killed in Batticaloa district were civilians who had sought refuge in a school after a previous battle between government troops and the guerrillas.