S Lanka army accused of killings

By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Colombo

Photos released by the Tigers appeared to show wounded civilians being treated

Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have accused the army of killing five civilians, including two children, in the rebel-controlled north.

The rebels said artillery shells fired by the military fell inside a camp for internally displaced people near the northern town of Kilinochchi.

But a Sri Lankan military spokesman later denied the rebels' accusation.

On Saturday, the government accused the Tigers of planting a bomb in Colombo which wounded at least 43 people.

The blast comes as the government is undertaking a large offensive against the rebels in northern areas of the island.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east for 25 years. More than 70,000 people have died.

Leaflets

The artillery shell landed amid temporary shelters set up by people displaced by the fighting in the north, according to the Tamil Tigers.

In a statement, the rebel group said five people had been killed, among them two small children - the bodies of whom could be seen in pictures subsequently released.

They blamed Sri Lanka's military for the shelling which they said had happened not far from Kilinochchi, the Tigers' administrative headquarters.

A spokesman for the military, Brig Udaya Nanayakkara, said the allegation was false, and that the military operation in the north had targeted only the Tigers' defences and not civilians.

Aid agencies say there are 135,000 people in Kilinochchi district who have been displaced by the fighting.

More than half of them have abandoned their homes in the last three months, fleeing further into rebel territory ahead of a military advance to crush the Tigers, and end their fight for a separate state for the Tamil minority.

The Sri Lankan air force has begun dropping leaflets urging civilians to cross in government-controlled areas.