In a new offensive against Tamil rebels, Sri Lankan warplanes have bombed civilian targets, killing at least 42 children, an international relief agency said Saturday.
The rebels issued a statement from London saying 71 people had died in the bombing campaign Thursday and Friday in the northern Jaffna Peninsula, the stronghold of Tamils fighting for independence.Under strict new censorship rules imposed by the Sri Lankan government on Thursday, no information about the offensive was allowed to be published in that country.
The Doctors Without Borders relief group released a statement in Paris saying about 200 people were wounded when bombs fell on a school near Point Pedro on the northern coast Friday.
Of some 150 children who were wounded, 15 died within three hours of being brought to the hospital, the relief agency said. It said 42 children have died at the hospital since Thursday, but did not say how the other children received fatal injuries.
The main rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said 25 children were killed when the Nagerkoil Central School was bombed at lunchtime Friday. More people were killed when planes bombed towns in the area, the rebel statement said.
New censorship rules prohibit the publication or broadcast of information related to Sri Lanka's 12-year civil war without approval from a military censor.
The rebels are fighting for a homeland in the north and east for minority Tamils. They accuse the Sinhalese majority of widespread discrimination in jobs and education. More than 36,000 people have been killed in the war.