Sri Lankan military sources describe as yet another fabrication the news item prominently carried on some international media that a hospital has been shelled inside the conflict zone, killing at least 45 persons, according to LTTE and alleged hospital sources.

Military sources said had penetrated LTTE defences and were advancing along a coastal strip to the to the south of the area still held by the LTTE, and where a large number of civilians are still held hostage by the LTTE.

These sources said the military had observed the LTTE cadres laying booby traps to destroy buildings and also out carrying suicide bomb attacks causing considerable injury and damage in the area they were fast losing control of.

The LTTE pressure groups could be using images of such damage to buttress their false claims of another field hospital being attacked, these sources said.

International news agencies underscore that the UN has condemned as a “bloodbath” a similar report of an alleged attack by Security Forces last Sunday (May 10) killing more than 300 persons and injuring , nearly 1,200. Just as these figures of killed and injured were attributed to a doctor in the battle zone, the latest report of an attack on a hospital killing 45 has also been attributed to a doctor or health workers by the news agencies. The Ministry of Health has already stated that there is no such doctor as mentioned in the earlier (May 10) report in the area.

The conduct of the UN spokesman in Colombo, Charles Weiss, has led to much concern in Sri Lanka Government circles for releasing this unverified information to the media, and the matter has already been brought to the notice of higher authorities in the UN Resident Representative’s Office in Colombo.