Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers put up stiff resistance to advancing government troops yesterday in heavy fighting that saw the beleaguered rebels launch a wave of suicide attacks, the military said.
The clashes came as both sides in the brutal conflict faced renewed charges of war crimes, with the UN describing the situation as “absolutely awful” and a rights group saying civilians were being used as “cannon fodder.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her British counterpart David Miliband also appealed for a halt in the fighting to allow thousands of trapped civilians to escape.
But the military, which says it has the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) surrounded in just 4km² of coastal jungle, said fighting continued to rage.
It said at least 10 guerrillas died in a wave of suicide boat strikes against army positions along the northeast coast. It added that several government troops were wounded, but gave no further details.
There was no immediate comment from the rebels and the army’s claims cannot be independently verified as independent journalists, diplomats and most aid agencies are barred from going anywhere near the conflict zone.
The Colombo government estimates up to 20,000 civilians are being held in the pocket where the LTTE are holed up, although the UN has said as many as 50,000 may be trapped — huddled in shallow bunkers and with scant food, water or medical facilities.
On Tuesday, the rebels accused the army of killing at least 47 civilians in an artillery and mortar attack on a hospital, a charge fiercely denied by the military.
That followed an alleged massive army bombardment of the area over the weekend, which the rebels claimed had left up to 2,000 dead.
A statement from Human Rights Watch, however, blamed both sides for the ongoing carnage.
“Recent satellite photos and witness accounts show the brutal shelling of civilians in the conflict area goes on,” Brad Adams, Asia director at the US-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
The rights group also described witness accounts of how the Tigers, accused of using civilians as human shields, murdered anyone who tried to cross over to government territory.
“Neither the Sri Lankan army nor the Tamil Tigers appear to have any reluctance in using civilians as cannon fodder,” Adams said.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator John Holmes said intransigence by both the Sri Lankan government and the rebels had created an “absolutely awful situation.”
“The LTTE are clearly still holding onto that population against their will, using them as human shields,” he said at a news conference in Geneva. “The government have said they are not using heavy weapons. But the evidence suggests that they are continuing to do so, at least to some extent.”
The UN’s rights chief has already said both sides may be guilty of war crimes.
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