The Ceylon News

Some 14 civilians fleeing for safety from the battle zone in the north were fired at by Tamil Tiger rebels on Saturday, Sri Lanka's defense officials said here on Sunday.

A local employee of a UN agency was among the 14 civilians who were injured by the shooting, said the officials.

They said 592 civilians on Saturday fled the Puttumatalan area in the northern Mullaittivu district, the small patch of land the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) currently trapped.

The government has accused the rebels of holding the Tamil civilian population as human shields in order to thwart the forward movement of the troops.

International agencies have called on the troops to avoid civilian casualties and the government maintains that its zero civilian casualty policy is being followed in its campaign to eliminate terrorism.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said 432 more of the sick and wounded civilians and their relatives were ferried from Mullaithivu to the eastern port of Trincomalee Saturday.

This was the 10th such transport of civilians via sea route since February conducted by the ICRC.

The government claimed that it has provided best care possible for the war displaced in the welfare centers established for them.

The government said its military offensive against the LTTE is at final stage after the troops having recaptured most of the LTTE's 15,000 sq km territories in successive military victories since2006.

Claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese majority governments, the LTTE began its armed struggle in the 1980s to setup an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.

"We are disappointed and dismayed over the unprofessional statement," said the minister talking to media on Saturday.

Commissioner Pillay's statement on Friday said more than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and 7,000 wounded in the fighting over the last two months.

Minister Samarasinghe said that these figures correspond to the figures appeared on pro-LTTE website 'Tamilnet' , and the UN report is ,therefore, unsubstantiated.

The minister also denied that government forces were firing into a safe zone.

He said that UN could have consulted the Sri Lankan authorities, the UN resident representative based in Sri Lanka and himself, as the minister of human rights before making such statements about the war situation in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's army is trying to take over rebel strongholds in the area

The last major medical facility in Tamil-held territory has almost stopped functioning due to a medicine shortage, a Sri Lankan health official says.

Dr T Varatharaja says the closure of the hospital would put the lives of thousands of sick and injured people in the conflict zone at extreme risk.

His warning comes amid increasing international concern for civilians caught in fighting in the north-east.

Sri Lanka's army is trying to take over rebel strongholds in the area.

It is estimated that between 70,000 and 200,000 civilians are caught up in the conflict zone.

Dr T Varatharaja said there was a severe shortage of essential medicine, which was forcing the hospital to shut down most of its operations.

However, a senior Sri Lankan government official said some of the medicine requested by the hospital had already been sent to the nearest major town and would be delivered once the defence ministry authorised the move.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been warning of an impending humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the conflict zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka and has called for a mass evacuation of civilians.

The government maintains that it has continued to send food and medicine to the people inside the rebel-controlled territory and rejects allegations of a possible catastrophe.