2ND LEAD

Hospital attacked, SLN naval crafts fire artillery pieces

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 11:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) attack crafts fitted with 100 mm cannon began firing artillery pieces along the shore of Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Wednesday around 4:00 p.m. Meanwhile, the makeshift hospital in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal was hit by artillery shells. 9 patients were killed and 15 sustained injuries as many of the remaining patients had to seek shelter elsewhere, according to initial details. The attack comes after the ICRC visited the hospital in the morning and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner were meeting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo Wednesday. Both the ministers had urged for immediate ceasefire earlier in the day.

Gunboats, with deck mounted machine guns, were also firing along the shore, initial reports further said.

Meanwhile, civil officials reported that more than 150 dead bodies of civilians, killed in close-range gunfire by the SLA, were recovered from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal north in the morning.





Chronology: