Sri Lanka hospital attack 'kills 49'

Forty-nine patients were killed in a shelling attack on a hospital in Sri Lanka’s war zone today, a health official said.

Dr Thurairaja Varatharajah said a single mortar shell hit the hospital’s admissions ward this morning.

He said he expected the death toll to rise because many of the dozens of injured had serious head and stomach wounds.

Dr Varatharajah is the top government health official in the war zone.

The government has denied reports that it is shelling the area.

More than 50 other people were wounded in the attack, Dr Varatharajah said.

Shells were still hitting the area hours later, including one which landed about 150 yards from the hospital, the only functioning medical facility in the war zone, he said.

A second hospital official said a hospital administrator was among those killed.

The attack came after a weekend of heavy shelling which killed hundreds of civilians trapped in the war zone. The military has denied accusations that it was still shelling the tiny coastal strip still under rebel control, which is packed with an estimated 50,000 civilians.

Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.

Rebel spokesman Seevaratnam Puleedevan blamed the attack on the government, and said civilians were fleeing in all directions inside the tiny war zone, seeking safety.

“There’s no place to seek shelter or protect themselves,” he said.

He called on the international community to force the government to stop its offensive against the rebel group.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that he was “appalled at the killings of hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka over the weekend. Thousands of Sri Lankans have already died in the past several months due to the conflict, and more still remain in grave danger.”

In a statement, Mr Ban reiterated his call for both parties to cease using heavy weapons and accused the rebels of “reckless disrespect” for the safety of civilians.

Human rights groups accuse the rebels of keeping the civilians hostage for use as human shields against the government offensive.