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UN renews call to end Sri Lanka 'bloodbath'
Civilian toll unacceptably high, the United States said, joining the UN and UK in demanding an end to the conflict.
- Agencies
- Published: 22:52 May 12, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- Sri Lankan ethnic Tamils are seen with the dead bodies of their relatives on Monday at a makeshift hospital in Tamil Tiger controlled no fire zone in Mullivaaykaal, Sri Lanka.
Colombo: An artillery shell attack hit the only functioning hospital in Sri Lanka's northeastern war zone on Tuesday, killing at least 49 people including patients, a doctor said.
"One side of the hospital was destroyed in the shelling," the doctor, Thurairaja Varatharajah, who is director of health services in Mullaitivu, said. The attack seriously injured 31 patients.
Sri Lankan soldiers didn't fire any shells in the area where the hospital is situated, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
In Geneva, the UN's humanitarian coordinator John Holmes said on Tues there is evidence that Sri Lankan government forces are still using heavy weapons in areas where tens of thousands of civilians are being held as human shields by Tamil rebels.
The UN again on Tuesday called for an end to the "bloodbath" as hundreds of civilians were killed in the government-declared no-fire zone where the rebels are sheltering.
The civilian death toll in Sri Lanka is "unacceptably high," the United States said, joining the UN and UK in demanding an end to the conflict.
The Tamil Tigers must disarm and allow civilians to leave the combat zone, the State Department said, while calling on the government to abide by its pledge to end "major combat operations and the use of heavy weapons."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is "deeply concerned by the continued use of heavy weapons," while UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the civilians are the "victims of what at the moment is a war without witness."
The International Committee of the Red Cross demanded "unimpeded" access to the war zone to save the lives of hundreds of wounded civilians.
Your comments
The carnage in Sri Lanka must be ended as soon as possible. Government can get tougher but not to this extent. Innocents are killed in the name of ethinicity. The world is silent or behaves just as a bystander. Sri Lankans don't need sypathisers now, they need immediate help to save their land.
Agniyah Shaikh
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 13, 2009, 18:35
What is going on in Sri Lanka is unacceptable. Now the internal community should act fast and more responsively to save the innocent people. Otherwise it will be a bad expmple to the world.
Saravanan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 13, 2009, 17:50
In any democratic country the government is to the people, for the people and by the people. But this time across the globe in democratic countries I feel that whatever is happening is very awful. This is really a harsh condemnable. This hostility must stop immediately between the Tamil Tiger and the government. There must be done some dealing with immediate effect. This time in Sri Lanka they should stop this blood bath of civilians.
Shaikh Mohammad Ayoub
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 13, 2009, 17:01
I think the US is there to condemn killings in every country, except those done by them and continuing in Iraq.
Pratheesh Earnest
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 13, 2009, 15:51
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