French Doctors: Tamil civilians paid a heavy price in what the Sinhala government says has been a "rescue mission."

Civilians treated for burn injuries

Doctors at the French field hospital at Cheddikulam in Vavuniya said that among the displaced civilians who were treated by them, some were possibly suffering from injuries caused by burns from phosphorus -- an incendiary chemical which is banned from use in civilian areas under an international convention, the AFP reported yesterday.
During the past two weeks, a team of 72 surgeons, doctors, nurses and other staff have treated 700 displaced people, 100 of whom had to be operated on.

The doctors said that under the scalpel, the skinny and traumatized displaced described a gruesome picture of how Tamil civilians had paid a heavy price in what the Sri Lankan government says has been a "rescue mission."

Their wounds show how ordinary and impoverished villagers -- male and female, young and old -- have been shot, shelled, bombed and burned as the bitter ethnic conflict enters its bloody final phase.

Surgeon Daniel Gaujoux, said he was "stunned by the number of machine gun bullets and shrapnel we are pulling out" from civilians who managed to escape.

"We've removed 30 bullets in 10 days -- around 10 of them from the arms and legs of children, and even one from the knee of an old woman," said Frederic Vavdin, another member of the French government aid team.

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