[AFP]

Tens of thousands of people trapped by fighting in Sri Lanka’s north are facing serious risks of disease due to shortages of clean water and sanitation, the Red Cross said Tuesday. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the humanitarian situation was deteriorating fast as civilians still living in the rebel-held territory endured daily attacks and an increased danger of epidemics. “The area is affected by shelling every day, and the cramped conditions and the lack of water and proper sanitation are putting people at risk,” it said in a statement.

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[BBC]

The Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels have both denied accusations of inflicting civilian casualties in the north-east. The army said it was not responsible for the shelling of a makeshift hospital which the Red Cross (ICRC) said had killed 16 people on Monday. The Tamil Tigers denied shooting dead 19 fleeing civilians. Meanwhile the ICRC says a boat carrying 240 wounded civilians from the war area has arrived safely in Trincomalee.

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[AFP]

The Red Cross on Wednesday rejected charges it was trying to stir panic over the plight of Sri Lankan civilians trapped in fighting between soldiers and Tamil rebels in a row over body bag orders placed by the group. The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said it had placed orders for 2,500 body bags in January after swapping 912 combatants’ bodies between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels last year In a statement, the Red Cross denied accusations made by the government last week that the group had ordered 35,000 body bags in January.

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[AP]

At least 16 patients being treated at a makeshift hospital in the northern Sri Lankan war zone were killed by shelling, the Red Cross said Tuesday, as the military accused rebel fighters of killing 19 other civilians fleeing the area.

The United Nations, meanwhile, said it was outraged by the “unnecessary” deaths of hundreds of people inside rebel territory and urged both sides to avoid fighting in civilian areas.

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[ICRC]

A ferry flying the flag of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is currently evacuating about 240 patients from Putumattalan to Trincomalee. They had fled Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital in the northern Vanni region on 4 February after it sustained repeated shelling. The patients are expected to arrive in Trincomalee this evening and receive medical treatment. The operation started after both parties had granted safe passage. Civil authorities, medical staff, the fishermen’s union and church representatives are also actively supporting the evacuation. An additional 160 patients still in Putumattalan should be evacuated on 11 February.

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[BBC]

The Sri Lankan government has accused the Red Cross of inciting panic over the military operation against Tamil Tiger rebels in the north. A spokesman said the ICRC had ordered 35,000 body bags for the battle zone to create what he called a fear psychosis among the international community. The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed a routine order of body bags but nowhere near that number. It said its office in Colombo had been attacked by protesters. Meanwhile the army says it is closing in on remaining Tamil Tiger positions, confining them to an area of about 200 sq km (124 sq miles).

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[ AP ]

Patients are fleeing a hospital that was hit four times by artillery shells in the war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces in northern Sri Lanka this week, the Red Cross said Tuesday. Also Tuesday, the military said it had captured the rebels’ seventh and final airstrip, effectively grounding their tiny air force as troops pushed ahead with their offensive to crush the guerrilla group and end Asia’s longest-running civil war. On Monday, independent observers handed The Associated Press dramatic pictures and video, showing scores of civilians killed or maimed.

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[BBC]

The UN in Sri Lanka says many people - including children - have been killed by shells landing on a hospital in rebel-held territory in the north-east. UN spokesman Gordon Weiss told the BBC the shells had hit a crowded pediatric unit. It is not clear who fired them. Earlier the Red Cross said two people had been killed on a separate strike on the same hospital. It is situated in an enclave held by the Tamil Tiger rebels and home to tens of thousands of civilians.

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[BBC]

Sri Lanka’s government has denied Red Cross and UN reports of a major humanitarian crisis in the north, where troops are fighting Tamil Tiger rebels. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the BBC that he had a policy of “zero” civilian casualties. The Red Cross believes that hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands more are trapped. With aid supplies mostly blocked, the UN plans to make a new bid on Thursday to evacuate badly injured civilians.

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[CNN]

A major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in northern Sri Lanka with 250,000 unprotected civilians trapped in the crossfire between government troops and rebel forces, the Red Cross says. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has appealed to both sides to facilitate the movement of civilians out of the combat zone which has seen intensified fighting. “People are being caught in the crossfire, hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded,” Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva said in a statement on the ICRC Web site.”

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