Cluster bombs used in Sri Lanka war: UN

WAR IS ON: The Lankan army wants to finish a war that started in 1983 and is now one of Asia's longest-running.

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Colombo: Cluster bombs have been used in the war in Sri lanka for the first time since the collapse of a Norway-brokered ceasefire in 2007.

The bombs were used near a civil hospital in Puthukudiyiruppu. It is not clear if they were used by the Lankan military or the tigers.

The death toll in the two days of shelling on Sunday and Monday at that hospital has risen to 12, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The organisation's spokesperson, Sarasi Wijeratne couldn't say who fired the shells. But Dr Thurairajah Varatharajah, the top Government health official in the area, said the attacks appeared to have come from the army.

The UN says it is fearful for the safety of thousands of trapped civilians and its own staff and families.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Tuesday that the army was on the verge of crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Puthukudiyiruppu is inside the small wedge of jungle where the military has surrounded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters.

The military is fighting to finish a war that started in 1983 and is now one of Asia's longest-running.

Earlier we spoke to Gorden Weiss, the UN Spokesperson in Colombo who said that cluster bombs have been thrown in the vicinity of the hospital.

Cluster bombs consist of a canister that is dropped from a plane and that opens to release a cluster of bomblets.