More than 2,700 civilians have been killed over last two months and the number of casualties is rising daily, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, citing new reports received by it.

"We receive reports of civilians being killed and wounded daily in the 'no-fire' zone, while the Sri Lankan government continues to deny the attacks," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Tamil Tigers' use of civilians as human shields adds to the bloodshed."

Adams said a doctor at the makeshift hospital in Putumattalan, inside the government-declared "no-fire zone", told HRW over the phone yesterday that dozens of dead and wounded civilians were being brought to the hospital daily.

The interview, it added, was interrupted by shelling, audible over the phone; the doctor later explained that an artillery shell had struck approximately 250 meters from the hospital, killing two civilians and wounding seven others.

Another shell struck about a kilometer from the hospital, also killing and wounding civilians. The doctor was quoted as saying that the hospital had received 14 bodies and 98 wounded that day. He told HRW that the shelling appeared to come from the direction of government positions three kilometers to the west.

Describing the attack inside the no fire zone on March 21, HRW said the doctor told it that between 10 and 11 a.m., a shell hit a shelter about 200 meters from a church in Valayanmadam (three kilometers south of Putumattalan).

"When I went to the site in the evening, two bodies were still lying at the site, while three bodies had already been buried. Nine people had been injured."

The Sri Lankan government continues its official denials of any attacks in the no-fire zone, including in discussions with top international officials, HRW noted. It said the LTTE continues to prevent 150,000 Tamil civilians from leaving the conflict zone and effectively using them as human shields. During the last two months LTTE permitted only about 4,000 injured civilians and their caretakers to be evacuated by ferryboat by the Red Cross.

The situation of the civilians trapped in the conflict zone is aggravated by the acute shortage of food, sanitary facilities, and medication, as international humanitarian agencies cannot deliver sufficient supplies to the area, HRW said, adding a volunteer at the hospital told Monday: "We are in a very, very desperate situation. People are suffering."