Sri Lanka jets bomb rebel areas
By Gandi Douglas,WNS Sri Lanka Correspondent
COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan air force has bombed targets in Tamil Tiger-held areas in the north for a second day. International ceasefire monitors said five people, probably civilians, were killed when a bomb landed near a hospital in the town of Kilinochchi. The army says the planes were attacking two military targets. The air raids are the first since weekend peace talks broke down on the issue of the main road linking Jaffna with the rest of the country. Both sides accuse each other of restarting the fighting.
Staff from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) visited Kilinochchi - where the Tamil Tigers have their headquarters - to assess the damage. SLMM spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir said that the hospital had not been struck, but had been damaged by shock waves from the blast. Two bombs had been dropped, she said, one of which landed on a house 600m away from the hospital, the other about 400m away. Ms Olafsdottir said the dead included two teenagers and two people in their 50s or 60s.
A statement from the rebels said those killed were five members of one family who died in their house. Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan told Reuters news agency that fragments from the blast "flew as far as a hospital 500 metres away and smashed windows". "This is state terrorism," he said. But the military said it was attacking legitimate targets.
posted by wnsworld @ 5:12 PM
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