The Tamil Tiger rebels said yesterday that intense fighting in the northern war zone was killing and wounding hundreds of civilians a day and appealed to the UN to push for urgent shipments of food and medicine to the area.
Sri Lankan forces have cornered the once-powerful rebel group into a tiny sliver of land on the northeast coast along with tens of thousands of civilians. Many diplomats have expressed concern over the fate of the trapped civilians.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a phone call on Tuesday to suspend the offensive to allow aid into the war zone.
Rajapaksa has brushed off calls for a ceasefire, saying a truce would give the rebels a chance to regroup.
STARVATION
In a letter addressed to Ban, rebel political leader Balasingham Nadesan appealed to the international community to pressure the government to allow aid into the region.
“We draw attention to the nine deaths by starvation in the last few days and the real fear that the death toll could rise exponentially in the coming days,” he wrote.
A copy of the letter was e-mailed to The Associated Press by the rebels.
The letter accuses the government of deliberately withholding food and medicine from the area.
Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the government had delivered enough food and accused the rebels of grabbing the supplies for themselves.
HEAVY ARTILLERY
Rebel spokesman Seevaratnam Puleedevan said in an interview yesterday that the government had violated its promise last week to stop firing heavy weapons into the war zone to safeguard civilians there.
Government troops continue to fire artillery and mortar shells, conduct air strikes and attack with heavy guns from the sea throughout the night and for several hours during the day, he said.
“Most of them are falling in the civilian areas,” he said.
“People are living in makeshift shelters and bunkers. They are really afraid to go out because of the heavy shelling and bombardment.”
Hundreds of people are being killed and wounded in the attacks each day, he said.
The military denies using heavy weapons and says it is pushing ahead with its offensive using only small arms.
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