SLA artillery barrage hits 'safety zone' as ICRC ship leaves Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 19:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up heavy shelling into the safety zone Saturday around 7:00 a.m. Within an hour, more than 50 seriously wounded civilians were rushed to the makeshift hospital now functioning at a junior school in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, medical sources reported Saturday night. The SLA stepped up artillery and mortar barrage into the 8 square kilometer area where civilians numbering between 120,000 to 165,000 are starving without adequate humanitarian supplies amid congestion. Despite Sri Lanka's assurance to the international community heavy weapons are still targetted towards safety zone.

Only 30MT of supplies reached Vanni Saturday when ICRC ship, which failed reach the shores of the Safety Zone due to attacks, reached saftey zone and managed to transport 450 wounded and their guardians back to Pulmoaddai.

While shelling has caused heavy civilian casualties, dead are being buried or burned at the site where they get killed.

The hospital is barely managing to provide immediate first aid, and the critical shortage of medicine has resulted indoctors being unable to save the many seriously ill and wounded civilans.



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