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| Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians' | Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| At least 45 civilians have been killed in eastern Sri Lanka after army shells hit a camp for people displaced by the fighting, Tamil Tiger rebels say. | |
| Another 125 were wounded in the shelling in the Vakarai region, rebel spokesman S Puleedevan told the BBC. | Another 125 were wounded in the shelling in the Vakarai region, rebel spokesman S Puleedevan told the BBC. |
| Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said he was unaware of civilian casualties. The Red Cross are reported as having seen 18 corpses. | |
| Ceasefire monitors said a team was on its way to the area to check reports. | Ceasefire monitors said a team was on its way to the area to check reports. |
| "It was a big attack and the deaths could be as high as 100," Mr Puleedevan said. | |
| Brig Samarasinghe would only say that there had been "heavy artillery" exchanges in the Batticaloa area. | |
| 'Massive incident' | |
| The government agent for Batticaloa, S Puniyamoorthy, said over 1,000 refugees were living in the camp - a school building in Kathiraveli town, in Vakarai. | |
| According to reports, bombs fell in the area for about one hour around midday. | |
| A doctor at a local hospital, Muthulingam Atchuthan, said he had been told about a "massive incident" and that he had dispatched 10 ambulances and a bus to recover casualties. | |
| The Red Cross said their aid workers have seen 18 corpses, Reuters news agency reports. They said 50 wounded have been taken to a hospital in Vakarai. | |
| Military spokesman, Brig Samarasinghe, said the two sides have been exchanging artillery fire in the area for the last few days. | |
| "This morning, the rebels intensified their attack. Five of our soldiers were wounded. We also retaliated," he said. | |
| Monitors on way | |
| Brig Samarasinghe said he was not aware of the casualties in the rebel-held area and alleged that the Tigers were using civilians as human shields. | |
| The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, a group of European observers overseeing the 2002 ceasefire, says more than a 1,000 civilians have been killed in violence since the beginning of this year. | |
| Helen Olafsdottir, a spokeswoman for the mission, said a group of monitors was on its way to investigate the incident. | |
| The Tigers and the Sri Lankan military have clashed several times in the recent days since peace talks collapsed in Geneva in late October. | |
| The Sri Lankan air force has repeatedly shelled Tiger areas since the failure of the talks. |