Nearly 400 people fled Sri Lanka's shrinking war zone and a wounded cabinet minister regained consciousness after a suicide bombing blamed on the cornered Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said today.
Sri Lanka's military has encircled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a 37sq km on the island nation's northeastern coast and is fighting to finish a separatist war that has raged off and on since 1983.
Troops killed 16 LTTE fighters in battles yesterday and today, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The Tigers could not be reached for comment.
The pro-LTTE web site www.tamilnet.com quoted an unidentified rebel official as saying fighters yesterday blew up six army artillery positions 18 km behind the front, and killed 50 soldiers in the assault.
Mr Nanayakkara denied the report: "We just don't allow those gun positions to come under attack. They are well-protected even when they are far from the fighting."
Soldiers received 378 fleeing Tamil civilians yesterday, bringing the total to 1,054 since Friday, he said. Nearly all of the 38,900 who fled this year came out in a single spurt in early February when troops reached an older no-fire zone.
There are tens of thousands still in the war zone. Aid agencies, rights groups and the government have urged the LTTE to stop holding them by force as human shields. The government says 70,000 are there, while the Red Cross says there are 150,000.
The Tigers insist people are staying out of choice and accuse the government of intentionally shelling civilians, which the military denies. It says troops have slowed their offensive to protect people.
The government has rejected a Tiger ceasefire call as a ploy to buy time to re-arm, and pledged safe passage to civilians.
Reuters