Colombo: Fierce fighting between troops and Tamil rebels claimed the lives of at least 52 civilians in Sri Lanka's war-ravaged north on Wednesday as the government, which is sniffing a "decisive" victory within a "few days", came under growing global pressure for declaring a "no-fire period".
Amid increasing international concerns over the safety of the 2.5 lakh civilians trapped in the shrinking war zone, a cluster bomb struck one of the last functioning hospitals in Wanni region, the fourth consecutive day it was hit.
The latest attack came as Sri Lanka marked its 61st independence day, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa declaring that the LTTE will be totally defeated in the next "few days".
In Suranthapuram in Wanni, 52 civilians were killed in shelling last evening, UN spokesman Gordon Weiss said, adding it was not known who was responsible for the attack.
The government had on Monday asked all civilians to enter the demarcated 'safety zone' as soon as possible, cautioning that otherwise their security could not be guaranteed. It has also accused the cornered Tamil Tigers of "forcibly" holding the people back and using them as "human shields".
Concerned over the humanitarian situation, the US and Britain have asked both the government of the island nation and the LTTE to agree to a "temporary no-fire period" to allow the civilians and the wounded to leave the conflict zone.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also called for a political resolution to the decades-old ethnic conflict in the country.
"The time to resume political discussions is now," the two leaders said in a joint statement after Miliband met Clinton.
The government also came under a scathing attack from international rights group Human Rights Watch, which accused it of showing a "callous indifference" towards civilians.
As troops boxed the remnants of rebels to a small patch of jungles, President Rajapakse predicted a quick end to the 25-year-old insurgency.
"I am confident that in a few days we will decisively defeat the terrorist force that many repeatedly kept saying was invincible," Rajapakse said in his speech during the independence day celebrations held amid tight security.
Intense clashes continued in separate places in the northern areas, where troops killed seven rebels and captured a huge suicide attack training facility believed to have been used by LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to host the "final dinner of death" before sending the 'human bombs' to their missions.
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