45 Tamils die in Sri Lanka attacks

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

“It was a big attack and we have 45 dead,” Seevaratnam Puleedevan, who heads the rebels’ Peace Secretariat told The Associated Press by satellite phone. Puleedevan said 125 people were also wounded, some of them seriously.