Sri Lankan Hospital Shelled for Second Day

Almost 50 people died when a makeshift hospital in the war zone was hit for a second time in two days.

A Sri Lankan technician for the International Committee of the Red Cross, a 31-year-old father, was killed in shelling along with his mother.

There are accounts of dozens more civilians also being killed.

Dr T Varatharajah told the BBC more than 50 people had died when two shells hit the zone's main hospital compound.

Sources in the UN said they agreed with that figure and that 100 had been injured.

Shelling of the same hospital on Monday night and Tuesday morning left 49 dead and 86 injured, the doctor told the BBC earlier.

A rebel spokesman said a home for mentally disabled women was also shelled, resulting in the death of 38 people.

He blamed the government side but the Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brig Udaya Nanayakkara, said the rebels were spreading false propaganda.

(Image: An ambulance burning outside the hospital in Mullivaikal, from AP, accompanying the BBC story.)