Sri Lanka denies attacking hospital

The Sri Lankan government has denied an attack on the last remaining hospital inside the country's war zone which left at least 49 people dead Mahinda Samarasinghe, the minister for disaster management and human rights, denied the army had launched any air raids or used artillery."The presidential secretariat has issued a statement saying that since about two months we have not been using heavy weapons. Aerial bombardments have not been used," he told Al Jazeera from Colombo, the capital, on Wednesday."We continue to show restraint because of civilians being trapped and held hostage by the LTTE. This is a very clear, categorical position by the government."Dr V Shanmugarajah, a district government medical officer, had said 49 people were killed and more than 50 injured when the makeshift hospital in Mullivaikal, in the so-called safe zone, was hit early on Tuesday by a mortar shell.