Sri Lankan Tamil members of the Parliament and their supporters protest in front of the United Nations office in Colombo against the artillery attack in Batticaloa. Tiger rebels destroyed two Sri Lankan gunboats in a suicide attack as the government expressed regret over the killing of about 65 civilians in an artillery blitz on a rebel-held area 

Sri Lankan Tamil members of the Parliament and their supporters shout slogans with holding placards in front of the United Nations office in Colombo. Sri Lanka's government has expressed "regret" over the killing of some 65 civilians in an artillery blitz on the rebel-held east of the island, but blamed the Tamil Tigers for using human shields 

Gopalakrishnan, left, reacts as he sees the remains of his sister Kanagasingham Thangamaller, covered with a cloth, at a hospital morgue in Valachchenai, about 230 kilometers (144 miles) northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006. Thangamaller who sustained serious injuries when government forces fired artillery and rocket launchers on Wednesday, died on her way to the hospital. Human rights group Amnesty International denounced the shelling of a school by Sri Lanka's military as a senior Tamil Tiger rebel said Thursday 60 civilians had been killed in the artillery attack.  

Sri Lankan Tamil members of the Parliament and their supporters shout slogans with holding placards in front of the United Nations office in Colombo. Sri Lanka's government has expressed "regret" over the killing of some 65 civilians in an artillery blitz of the rebel-held east of the island, but also accused Tamil Tigers of using human shields. 

UNREST IN SRI LANKA - PLEASE READ THIS PAGE - INNOCENT PEOPLE OF VAHARAI WERE KILLED BY ARTLERY SRIKE -

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - At least nine vessels were destroyed in a naval clash Thursday between Tamil rebels and Sri Lanka's navy off the northern coast, officials said, as a human rights group denounced the shelling of a school by the military in which at least 23 people were killed and scores injured.

Tamil Tiger rebels said they killed at least 26 Sri Lankan sailors and caught four others alive in a fierce sea battle off the northern Jaffna peninsula.

"We have caught four sailors alive and found one dead body. Our fighters have confirmed that they killed at least another 25 sailors," Tamil Tigers' military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan told The Associated Press.

He said five Sea Tiger fighters also died in the attack.

Ilanthirayan told The Associated Press that fighting broke out when navy vessels disturbed the rebels' "routine naval exercises."

A Defense Ministry official, however, said about 16 rebel boats, including explosive-laden suicide boats, attacked a navy patrol and sank one boat.

The navy, assisted by the air force, retaliated, destroying eight rebel boats, the official said on condition of anonymity due to policy. One naval craft was destroyed in the battle and another was damaged.

There was no independent account of the incident, and no details of casualties were immediately available.

Separately on Thursday, the military said Tamil rebels detonated a roadside bomb, killing two soldiers in northern Jaffna peninsula on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the government said it regretted Wednesday's artillery attack on the school.

"While we regret this whole episode, we say that national security is utmost," chief government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told a news conference.

Scores of civilians had taken refuge in the school in Kithiraveli, a rebel-controlled eastern Sri Lankan village from fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger guerrillas in when it was hit, senior rebel official Seevaratnam Puleedevan told The Associated Press.

He said at least 60 civilians were killed and 150 wounded.

Helen Olafsdottir, a spokeswoman for the European cease-fire monitoring mission, said monitors had counted 23 bodies, mostly of women, children and older people, and were still investigating. Another 137 people were admitted to hospitals, she said.

"Our monitors have visited the impact site and they have been told that as many as 40 rounds of artillery fire had hit the area," Olafsdottir said. She said the monitors did not find any sign of a rebel military installation in the impact area.

But Rambukwella said it was likely that the rebels had forced civilians to stay in the area to become human shields — a charge the insurgents denied.

London-based Amnesty International condemned the attack and called for an inquiry by international and independent human rights experts, saying there was an urgent need to "respond to the dramatic deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation."

In Colombo, 22 deputies from the Tamil National Alliance — a political party widely believed to be a proxy of the rebels — demonstrated in front of the U.N. refugee agency office, asking it to take action to protect displaced people.

The group said 41,000 Tamil civilians have been displaced in the Batticaloa region, the area of Wednesday's attack.

Rebel official Puleedevan said many villagers are now staying in makeshift tents or in the open, fearing more artillery fire.

"It is a pathetic situation," Puleedevan said. "There are more than 5,000 people there (in the village) and they are living in tremendous fear."

Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said the military wasn't targeting civilians, but acknowledged that it had fired artillery to silence rebels' guns.

"Tiger shelling and mortar fire on security forces' detachments in the east intensified on Tuesday and Wednesday, compelling the army to retaliate to counter further terrorist shelling," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Peace broker Norway, meanwhile, called on the government to explain why troops fired grenades that landed just meters (yards) from chief European cease-fire monitor Lars Soelvberg on Wednesday as he was visiting the village of Pooneryn in the country's volatile north.

Norwegian Aid Minister Erik Solheim called the incident "very worrying."

"We have asked the Sri Lankan government for an immediate explanation," he said in a statement issued in Oslo.

Soelvberg, a Norwegian, was inspecting a road suggested by the government as an alternative to a main highway that has been closed since August because of heavy fighting between government troops and separatist rebels. He escaped unhurt. The military denied knowledge of Soelvberg's presence in the area when they attacked.

The Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate Tamil homeland in the country's north and east, citing discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

The conflict killed more than 65,000 people before a Norwegian-brokered truce in 2002, but subsequent peace talks failed. Surging violence this year has killed more than 2,000 civilians, soldiers and rebel fighters and threatens a return to all-out civil war.

Associated Press reporters Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report.

Anger over Lanka civilian deaths

The Sri Lankan government has been heavily criticised for an artillery bombardment that killed dozens of civilians in the east of the island.

Peace negotiator Erik Solheim said he was "very troubled" by the attack. Human rights group Amnesty International called it "appalling".

Some 2,000 people were in a camp hit by army shells. Clashes between troops and Tamil rebels have trapped thousands.

Meanwhile, a fierce sea battle has been going on off Sri Lanka's north coast.

Both sides accuse the other of starting the clash, in which the navy says it sank 22 rebel craft and lost two of its own. Twenty sailors are missing.

The rebels say they captured four sailors alive and five of their fighters were killed.

'So many dead and wounded'

Mr Solheim accused government forces of an "onslaught" in Vakarai, where the refugee camp was shelled on Wednesday.

A lot of children died... there are thousands of people trying to leave

Survivor Palachchenai Kadiraveli

Sea battle erupts off Jaffna

Civilians' dire plight

Q&A: Sri Lanka conflict

"Yet again it is civilians who are being killed and made to suffer due to military operations," he said in a statement.

"I am extremely disappointed that the parties are not honouring the promises they made in Geneva a week and a half ago to refrain from launching any military offensives."

Thousands have been trying to flee the shelling in the eastern district of Batticaloa.

But the BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says they have nowhere to go as the lines from the Tamil Tiger-controlled areas into government territory are closed.

Aid agencies are working on creating a humanitarian corridor, but the government has so far failed to provide any safety assurance to allow supply convoys safe passage, she says.

'Human shields'

The school being used as a makeshift camp shelled on Wednesday was hit by the army in a heavy exchange of fire with the Tamil Tigers in rebel-held territory.

The rebels say at least 45 civilians were killed on the spot - three more died later of their injuries.

Child injured after army shelling in eastern Sri Lanka

A number of children were among the wounded

Government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the AFP news agency that the military had targeted two Tamil Tiger artillery positions, but conceded a civilian centre had also been hit.

"While we regret this whole episode, we also must say that national security is uppermost in our minds," he told reporters.

Mr Rambukwella said the government would investigate the incident, but said the army was responding to an earlier Tamil Tiger attack and accused the rebels of using civilians as human shields.

International truce monitors who have visited the scene described total panic as tens of thousands of people try to leave the area.

Two hospitals have received more than 100 casualties, including at least 17 children.

"There were a lot of explosions, so many people dead and wounded," 29-year-old survivor Palachchenai Kadiraveli told the Reuters news agency.

"A lot of children died... there are thousands of people trying to leave."

Call for answers

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) estimates that about 35,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the region which flared up in August.

"Our monitors saw there were no military installations in the camp area, so we would certainly like some answers from the military regarding the nature and reasons of this attack," SLMM spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir said.

The human rights group, Amnesty International, said: "It is appalling that the military should attack a camp for displaced people - these are civilians who have already been forced from their homes because of the conflict."

The government says nearly 3,000 people - troops, rebels and civilians - have been killed in violence since last year. There is no reliable independent confirmation of that figure.

Correspondents say a 2002 ceasefire now exists only in name.

U.N. condemns Sri Lanka 's shelling of school that sheltered displaced people

Associated Press, Thu November 9, 2006 12:42 EST . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) The United Nations on Thursday condemned the Sri Lankan military's shelling of a school sheltering displaced people, killing at least 23 Tamils.

``The U.N. condemns in the strongest possible terms the shelling by the security forces of the government of Sri Lanka - on defenseless civilians sheltering in Kathiraveli School in Vaharai yesterday,'' the U.N. said in a statement.

``The killing and wounding of displaced persons is unjustifiable and a violation of the most basic humanitarian norms,'' the statement said

The refugee camp was devastated by artlery srike 

The dead bodies of the civilians in Vaharai Refugees camp.  

The incident in Vaharai - about 65 civilians were killed and 300 wounded by the artlery strike