'Safety zone' in smoke, close-quarter fighting is on

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 05:39 GMT]
The entire safety zone area is in smoke since the early hours of Friday as shelling by the Sri Lanka Army was destroying all the structures within a narrow strip of coastal land which is densely populated with tens of thousands of people. 75% of the population remains under bunkers as close quarter fighting was heard. Hundreds of civilians are being killed and maimed in the carnage caused by the SLA, which attempts to enter the remaining part of the so-called safety zone before the election results are published in India.

People were dying without water and food as gunfire by the SLA was reaching from all the directions, a rescue worker who remains under the bunkers near the hospital told TamilNet. Casualties are uncountable.

Nobody is there to take care of the wounded at the hospital as all the civil activities have come to a standstill.

No civil movement was reported as SLA was using its maximum fire power on densely populated safety-zone which has been under siege for months.

Chronology: