'Hundreds of Civilians Killed' As Army Tries to Finish Off Tamil Tigers

Hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured as the Sri Lankan army attempts to wipe out the remaining Tamil Tiger fighters cornered in the narrow strip of coastline still held by the rebels, the Red Cross said today.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped inside what was previously a "no-fire zone" by intense fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its staff inside the zone had reported mounting civilian casualties as a result of the current fighting.

"It is difficult to pinpoint an exact number but certainly hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded as a result of the ongoing fighting," said Sarasi Wijeratne, the ICRC spokeswoman in Colombo.

Tamil sources claimed as many as 1,000 people died in the initial advance into the no-fire zone on Monday, but the ICRC figure is the first independent confirmation of the scale of the humanitarian cost of the operation.

"What we are seeing is intense fighting. We are particularly concerned about the use of weapons such as artillery," said Wijeratne.

She called on both sides to remember their obligations under international humanitarian law to minimize civilian casualties.

LTTE fighters are understood to be resisting the army's advance from positions among the tightly packed shelters where the remaining civilians have sought refuge.

UN officials today estimated that as many as 60,000 people remained inside the no-fire zone. More than 100,000 people are now thought to have managed to escape the fighting after the Sri Lankan military breached a major LTTE defensive position on Monday morning.

The Sri Lankan government warned it would step up its military campaign if the rebels did not surrender by noon yesterday, but the deadline passed without a response from the LTTE leadership.

Casualties inside the no-fire zone are now being taken to a makeshift hospital at Mullaivaikal after fighting forced the abandonment of a temporary hospital at Puttumatalan.

The Sri Lankan military today denied the ICRC claims. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the army spokesman, said it was "not possible" that the casualty figures could be so high.

"It is not true that the figures are that big. There may have been a couple of civilians killed because of the action of the LTTE," he said.

"This is a rescue operation and we are not returning fire when they are firing their arms from among the civilians. We are only using small arms, not artillery or even machine guns."

He claimed the ICRC was getting its figures from the LTTE.

"There can't be that amount of big numbers being killed. If that is the case they are either LTTE, it is exaggerated or it is as a result of action by the LTTE," he said.

But he said the 100,000 people "rescued" by the army since Monday included 300 who had been injured.