MULLAITTIVU, Sri Lanka — At least 300 civilians were wounded and scores feared killed by Sri Lankan army artillery shells fired into a designated “safe zone” for ethnic Tamils trapped by fighting between the military and Tamil rebels, a health official alleged today.
The shelling comes as the rebels continue to fall back, pulling their forces and civilians into the last remaining areas of dense jungle still under their control and leaving behind ghost towns.
TamilNet, a pro-rebel Web site, said more than 300 civilians were killed by the shelling on Monday. The military denied firing into the zone.
U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said his staff has seen “dozens of people killed and wounded” in the safe zone over the past few days, including 10 civilians killed Monday. He said he did not know who was responsible for firing in the area.
But the health official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government, said he believed the government was responsible for the causalities because of the direction from which the fire came.
The official said hundreds of wounded had reached nearby hospitals, but it remained difficult to obtain a full account of the casualty toll in the 13.5-square-mile (35-square-kilometer) safe zone near Mullaittivu.
Journalists today were allowed rare access to Mullaittivu, the last town held by the rebels before it fell to the government advance last week. The media has been largely barred from the front lines and it was impossible to enter the “safe zone” to verify the casualty reports.
Only the cries of gulls and the distant thunder of artillery could be heard in this seaside town that was emptied by the departing rebels.
As army forces closed in, outflanking the Tamil Tiger fortifications, the rebels apparently sent the residents into jungle areas under their control and methodically stripped the town of anything useful.
The only signs of life today were a handful of soldiers patrolling the streets and the occasional abandoned cow or stray dog.
In what appeared to be rebel headquarters in the town, only an assortment of calendars showing the rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran remained on the walls. All the furniture and even the light bulbs had been removed.
Human rights groups and diplomats have expressed concerns about the safety of an estimated 150,000 to 400,000 civilians in the territory still under rebel control — an area of about 115 square miles. The government says the number is far lower.
The government unilaterally declared a “safe zone” last week in a small section of rebel-held territory and called on civilians to move into that area, where they would be protected. But there have been several reports of artillery fire in that area, including Monday’s shelling.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
