Nine dead as shells hit Sri Lanka children’s ward

At least nine people died and 20 were injured when shells hit the children's ward of a Sri Lankan hospital, according to aid agencies, as the army and rebels continue to bombard each other's positions in the north of the island.

The hospital at Puthukkudiyiruppu, known locally as PTK, is one of the last functioning health institutions, inside rebel-held territory. It was overcrowded when the attack happened last night. A four-year-old girl, the relative of a United Nations worker, was among the dead.

"The hospital is the main refuge for people in the area, UN spokesman Gordon Weiss told the Guardian. “It is overflowing with kids and women. We are very concerned as both sides are using artillery. The last communication that we had from our staff was that they were still counting the dead."

With the Sri Lankan army attempting to squeeze the rebel Tamil Tigers into an ever smaller patch of the island’s northeastern shore, fighting has become bloody and intense. Worries are growing for the 250,000 people aid agencies estimate are trapped in the rebel-held area. The shelling, which aid agencies said broke humanitarian law, came as the army said it would move in to rescue these people as a government-declared 48-hour truce lapsed. It is not clear which side was responsible for the shelling, which came a few days after aid workers warned of a serious humanitarian crisis in the area. The army said it had not fired shells at the hospital and blamed the rebels. But the pro-rebel www.tamilnet.com website blamed the firing on the Sri Lankan military.

Shells in two of the attacks appeared to have been fired by the Sri Lankan army, Dr Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top government health official in the area told The Times. Dr Varatharajah, reckoned last week more than 300 people had been killed in the recent fighting. But the government has denied that.

The Tigers, called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting for a separate homeland in northern Sri Lanka since 1983.

Of the 2.5 million people living in the areas directly affected by the fighting, about one million are children. SOS Children has five communities in Sri Lanka including one in Anuradhapura in the fighting affected north. The organisation’s projects there include a medical centre, social centre and help for street children. Read more.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS children