Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka accused government forces of killing 45 civilians yesterday as they sheltered in a school — the bloodiest incident yet since peace talks collapsed last month.

Seevaratnam Puleedevan, who heads the rebels’ Peace Secretariat, said that troops had deliberately shelled the school and that the dead included refugees and at least five children.

“The mindless and cruel attack on a helpless refugee population, which has already been subjected to blockades of all sorts of essential items, is difficult to understand,” the secretariat said on its website.

“Is it possible that the Sri Lankan military’s intention was to teach the Tamils the lesson that they, the military, can kill refugees in such numbers and no one can stop them?”

The Government denied any knowledge of civilian casualties and accused the Tigers of using human shields during a mortar and artillery exchange in the eastern district of Batticaloa.

A military spokesman said that the army had been responding to shelling from Tiger positions, which killed five soldiers yesterday.

“They had to retaliate, but they did not target civilians,” he told The Times, adding that the school was next to a Tiger camp. It was impossible to verify the Tigers’ claim independently. However, if confirmed, it would be one of the worst single losses of Tamil civilians since the 2002 ceasefire.

The final death toll was unclear, but some doctors at local hospitals put it as high as 65. It was the bloodiest incident in a week of violence that came after the failure of peace talks in Geneva at the end of last month. The aim of the talks had been to get the two sides to abide by the 2002 ceasefire, which has steadily unravelled this year, leaving more than 2,000 people dead. But the talks were undermined by an increase in the violence in the preceding fortnight, during which the Tigers carried out their worst suicide bombing yet, and then attacked the tourist hub of Galle.

The Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in northeastern Sri Lanka.

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Sacha Baron Cohen forced to tone down Brüno