UN says nearly 6,500 civilians dead in Sri Lanka

[cali]

By RAVI NESSMAN – 1 hour ago

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Two top Indian officials met with Sri Lanka's president Friday to demand an immediate cease-fire in the bloody civil war as the U.N. reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last three months of fighting.

Concern for the safety of the civilians trapped in the war zone has increased in recent weeks as the government pushed ahead with its offensive to crush the Tamil Tiger rebels and end the nation's quarter-century civil war.

On Monday, the military broke through rebel fortifications on the edge of a previously declared "no-fire" zone along the northeastern coast, sparking an exodus of more than 100,000 civilians. The rebels said at least 1,000 civilians were killed in that battle and the Red Cross said hundreds had been killed or wounded.

Neighboring India, under pressure from its own Tamil population in the midst of a national election, sent National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon to Sri Lanka on Friday to push for a cease-fire. The officials met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, but details of the meeting were not immediately available.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD97OO2GG0

[aquart]

1. Thanks for posting this.

We tend to forget other places.