Artillery fire kills 10 civilians in Sri Lanka

At least 10 civilians were killed and dozens of others wounded in artillery fire inside a Sri Lankan government-designated “safe zone”, a health official said today.

Dr Thurairaja Varatharajah said 48 other civilians were wounded in today’s firing and admitted to a makeshift hospital which he runs out of a school inside the rebel territory.

He said the shells appeared to have come from the directions where government forces are stationed.

The “safe zone” is a 7.5-mile-long area marked by the government as a haven for tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside the rebel territory.

Government officials have repeatedly denied targeting civilians saying those killed could be rebels in civilian clothes or the insurgents themselves may have fired at them.