Thousands flee Sri Lanka war zone

Posted by Lasantha Janaka on Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Sri Lankan military has pushed the Tamil Tigers back into a small sliver of territory [AFP]

More than 1,400 civilians have poured out of the conflict zone in the north of Sri Lanka, bringing the total in the past four days to nearly 14,000, the military has said.

The exodus comes as the Sri Lankan military tries to deal a final blow to the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE).

"On Saturday, 5,600 had come out. And today there are 1,400 who have come at the moment. There will be more and more coming," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said on Sunday.

More than 50,000 soldiers are converging on a 175 sq km sliver of jungle in the northeast of the Indian Ocean island, where the remaining Tamil Tiger fighters are trapped, the military said.

Nanayakkara said that the Tigers, who are listed by the US, EU, Canadian and Indian governments as a "terrorist" group, have in the past week have carried out two suicide attacks in an attempt to stop advancing troops.

In Puthukudiyiruppu, which is the last sizeable village believed to be held by the Tigers, 35 LTTE fighters in an armour-plated vehicle launched a suicide attack against government troops, Nanayakkara added.

"We believe all 35 were killed but we only recovered 11 bodies," he said.

Civilians flee

Since January 1, around 17,900 have fled the fighting - roughly between seven and 15 per cent of the total number trapped in the area.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the ongoing conflict [AFP]
Aid agencies said around 250,000 were inside the conflict zone before the exodus began, while the government disputed the figures claiming there were only 120,000.

The defence ministry said that medical care, food and water was being provided at the frontlines for the fleeing civilians.

The government, aid agencies and rights groups have accused the rebels of forcibly keeping people in the war zone as human shields, conscripts and labourers, a charge the Tigers deny.

The separatists did not immediately confirm or deny the reports, but the pro-rebel website TamilNet said the military had shelled the A-35 highway and groups of civilians, killing more than 120 people on Friday and Saturday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that hundreds of civilians have been killed in the fighting this year.

The military denies targeting civilians.

It is impossible to independently verify the two sides' claims as journalists are banned from the war zone.

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