Sri Lanka: UN official concerned over shelling of hospital, worsening civilian plight
[ UN ]
A United Nations humanitarian spokesman in Sri Lanka today voiced concern over the shelling of a hospital in the zone of fighting between the Government and rebel forces, emphasizing the ever-increasing threat to the lives of some 250,000 civilians trapped by the conflict. Gordon Weiss of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the hospital, in the north-east of the island nation, was shelled numerous times over the past day, resulting in the killing of 11 people altogether, including one nurse. Mr. Weiss said that it is uncertain where the shellfire came from but that his office had notified both the Government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) about the damage, but the strikes have not halted.