Children 'being killed' in Sri Lanka

Children are increasingly coming under fire in the conflict in Sri Lanka fear aid agencies.

Hundreds of children have been killed and many more injured in the fighting in north-eastern Sri Lanka, the United Nations' children's agency, Unicef, said yesterday. It also says that thousands more children’s lives are now at risk because of "a critical lack of food, water and medicines".

It comes as Sri Lanka's navy rescued 643 people who were fleeing fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and government troops. Rebels had been firing on the civilians, who were escaping in 35 small boats, ITN news channel reported last night. The navy managed to chase the rebels away, said spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

"Children and their families caught in the conflict zone are at risk of dying from disease and malnutrition," Unicef executive director Ann Veneman said in a statement reported by the BBC. "Regular, safe access for humanitarian agencies is urgently required, so that life-saving supplies can be provided, and civilians must be allowed to move to safe areas where essential humanitarian support is more available. The rights of children caught in the conflict must be fully respected and every effort should be taken to prevent civilian casualties".

A statement released by the aid agency Care International said that one of its humanitarian workers was killed on Tuesday in the military-designated "safe zone" in the conflict zone which is not supposed to come under fire. At least 18 more rebels were killed in the latest clashes in the shrinking war zone, an army official said. The army has the Tamil Tigers cornered in 11 square miles of the Indian Ocean island's northeast, and is battling to deal a final blow to their 25-year separatist rebellion. Meanwhile, the pro-rebel TamilNet website said that 52 civilians had been killed in army shelling in the "safe zone". Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped inside rebel territory, most of them in the narrow coastal strip which forms the "safe zone".

Government health officials in the north-east say that hundreds of deaths due to wounds and serious diseases could be prevented if more medical supplies and facilities were made available. There may be a drugs shortage because of the difficulty of bringing in supplies by ferries and smaller boats, the health ministry told Reuters news agency.

Tigers have fought for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the war, but that figure could now be far higher because of intensified fighting in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the condition for civilians in the north was "deteriorating by the day". "The area is affected by shelling every day, and the cramped conditions and the lack of water and proper sanitation are putting people at risk," an ICRC statement said.

Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children