Tamils step up hunger strikes

The Sri Lankan army has been accused of shelling a hospital and killing 64 innocent civilians. It comes as the government refuses to bow to international efforts and bring an end to the conflict with the Tamil Tigers. The hospital bombing claim was made on a pro-rebel website and has been denied by the military which claimed the Tamil Tigers may have deliberately set off explosions near the hospital to provoke sympathy. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said troops were respecting President Mahinda Rajapaksa's order not to use heavy weapons, air strikes or artillery. Thousands of civilians are trapped by the Tamils in a short strip of coastal land in the north of the country where the fighting is concentrated. The rebels insist people are staying in the area by choice, despite an exodus of 115,000 to government areas in the last two weeks. The rebels have vowed not to surrender in their fight for a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. The government has refused International pressure to call a truce because it would give rebels a chance to rearm. The Japanese government has given $4 million in emergency aid for the estimated 200,000 thousand people who are in camps in the north of the country.

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ITN | May 2, 2009

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