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| Sri Lanka |
| "Sri Lanka: War zone hospital shelled in north" |
| 2009-05-13 |
| [ADN Kronos] Government troops fired artillery shells on a temporary hospital in northeast Sri Lanka on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people inside the no-fire zone, according to Tamil Tiger militants and hospital sources. "Captain! I've pinpointed another hospital!" "Give 'em a whiff of grapeshot!" Another 55 people were reportedly injured in the alleged attack on the makeshift hospital set up in a school in the town of Mullivaikal, the pro-Tamil website TamilNet reported. "It's set up in a school!" "So much the better!" A government spokesman denied knowledge of the incident, but said the army was not using heavy weapons in the area. "Wudn't us." The military on Tuesday said soldiers and special forces soldiers had advanced across a narrow causeway into the south of the no-fire zone, leaving members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) surrounded on all sides and opening another escape route for civilians. "The gettin's good, so get out!" "Feet, do not fail us now!" The rebels said the makeshift hospital in Mullivaikal was hit early on Tuesday, and people injured in weekend attacks were among the dead. "Next!... Okay, what's the matter with you?" "I was attacked over the weekend!" "Duck!" [KABOOM!] "Aaaaiiiieeee!" The attack came as 2,000 wounded were waiting to be transported from the rebel-held zone to a Red Cross ship. Over 2,600 civilians have been killed in the past three days by Sri Lankan attacks in the Vanni district, TamilNet reported. "Yes! 2600! We saw it with our own eyes! Many were children and granny ladies! Baby ducks! Kittens! Ripped limb from limb! Oh, the humanity!" The LTTE - as the Tamil Tigers are officially known - said hundreds of civilians were killed in artillery barrages starting on Sunday. The UN described the attacks as a bloodbath. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon on Monday called for an immediate halt to the fighting and said the LTTE must allow the remaining civilians in the conflict zone to leave immediately. "Yes! You must cease and desisit immediately!... Wait. Have I said that before?... It seems like I've said that before..." Ban condemned the Tamil Tigers for what he called their "reckless disrespect" for civilians which has led to thousands of people remaining trapped in the narrow coastal strip by the rebels. So far, over 196,000 people have crossed into government-controlled areas from the conflict zone. But he urged the Sri Lankan government to end the conflict "without further bloodshed". "Yes, it's true they're bloodthirsty, depraved sons of bitches, but surely they've suffered enough?" The Sri Lankan military has meanwhile blamed civilian deaths on the Tigers, saying they are using people as human shields as the 25-year civil war appears to be reaching its endgame. These allegations denied by the rebels and are impossible to verify as reporters are banned from the area. The UN estimates that about 50,000 civilians are trapped by the conflict in a three-square-kilometre strip of land. "But they're not human shields! They were there when we got here and they don't wanna leave!" British foreign minister David Miliband and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, criticised Sri Lanka on Monday at the United Nations. They claimed it had violated its pledge to protect civilians by not using heavy weapons Diplomats from the UK, France and Austria said the UN Security Council should act to resolve the crisis, while the US said it was "deeply concerned". "How concerned are you, Nancy?" "Oh, deeply. Deeply." |
| Posted by:Fred |