Thousands brave rebel fire to flee Sri Lanka war

THOUSANDS of civilians braved rebel fire yesterday to break out of Sri Lanka’s war zone, the military said, as health workers abandoned the only hospital in the area – leaving hundreds of wounded behind – because of unrelenting shelling.

At least four civilians were killed and 14 others wounded when the rebels shot at them as they waded across a lagoon that forms the front line of the war, the military said. The Red Cross said the war zone was wracked by fighting yesterday, despite appeals from US president Barack Obama and the UN for the two sides to end their civil war and let the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped in the area escape.

The government has cornered the Tamil Tigers on a tiny strip of land – bordered by the sea on one side and a vast lagoon on another – and vowed to finish off the rebels after 25 years of civil war.

It has denied it is responsible for the shelling that has killed hundreds of civilians, saying the military has not fired heavy weapons in the area in weeks.

The US-based group Human Rights Watch, however, says satellite images and witness testimony contradict that claim and has accused both sides of using civilians in the tiny pocket of land as “cannon fodder”. As the military pressed ahead with its offensive, 2,400 civilians waded across the lagoon and into government-controlled territory under a hail of rebel gunfire, the military said. Another 2,000 were waiting to escape, it said.

The rebels have denied accusations they were holding the civilians as human shields and shooting at those trying to flee. Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government has barred most journalists and aid workers from the conflict zone. The government said the civilians’ presence is the only reason preventing the military from wiping the rebels out.

Nearly 200,000 civilians escaped the war zone in recent months.