Last hospital in Sri Lanka war zone evacuated

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Doctors and patients fled a hospital Wednesday in northern Sri Lanka — closing the last medical facility in the war zone — after days of artillery attacks by government and rebel forces, aid groups said.

With concern growing for the estimated 250,000 ethnic Tamils trapped in the conflict zone, the U.N. said cluster munitions appeared to have hit near the hospital and that 52 civilians were killed elsewhere Tuesday.

As fighting raged, President Mahinda Rajapaksa presided over an Independence Day celebration and reasserted that the government was on the brink of destroying the Tamil Tiger rebels and ending the 25-year-old civil war. More>>