Red Cross Worker Killed In Sri Lanka`s War Zone

A Red Cross worker was killed by shrapnel inside Sri Lanka's rapidly shrinking war zone, the international aid group said on Thursday. The Sri Lankan worker died just outside the no-fire zone the Sri Lankan military has set up for the tens of thousands of civilians caught by what many expect to be the final conventional battles of a 25-year separatist war on the Indian Ocean island.

The army has cornered the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a tiny 45 square km (17 sq mile) area of the island nation's northeast, where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the only aid group with a permanent presence.

"We can confirm that yesterday afternoon an ICRC staff member was tragically killed by shrapnel. This happened in northern Valayanmadam, which is in the coastal belt in an LTTE-held area," ICRC spokeswoman Sarasi Wijerathne said.

It was not clear who fired the artillery, she said.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the ICRC again ferried out 356 sick and wounded people along with their relatives to the port of Trincomalee, south of the no-fire zone. It has taken out 2,769 people since last month while bringing in food and medicine.

Aid agencies have pressed the LTTE to stop preventing civilians from leaving the war zone, and urged the government to avoid firing near populated areas even when the Tigers fire their weapons from them.

The United Nations and others have said there are around 200,000 people trapped in the war zone, while the government says the number is no more than 70,000.

The army's commander, Lt-Gen. Sarath Fonseka, on Wednesday met with commanders at the army's northern headquarters in Vavuniya, and again ordered them to slow operations to prevent civilian casualties.

"Our progress from now onwards should be made meticulously, taking maximum precautions keeping the civilian factor in mind at all times," the military's official web site, www.nationalsecurity.lk, quoted him as telling commanders.

The pro-rebel web site, www.TamilNet.com, said on Thursday artillery fire into the no-fire zone had killed 78 civilians, but it did not name its sources and had no pictures.

The military denies firing inside the no-fire zone and has repeatedly accused the LTTE of trying to manufacture a civilian crisis to get international pressure for a ceasefire, which it has done in the past and used as a period to re-arm.

The LTTE late last week offered a ceasefire which the government laughed off, saying the Tigers could either surrender or die.

The LTTE is on U.S., EU, Canadian and Indian terrorism lists after a 25-year civil war in which it fought to establish a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils.