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.