World

Sri Lanka urges civilians to flee from rebel areas

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka urged civilians living in Tamil Tiger rebel-held areas to flee to government-controlled territory as fighting escalated in the embattled north, officials said Friday.

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans have been driven from their homes in the north in recent months as government forces seize large chunks of territory that had been controlled by the separatist guerrillas, international aid groups say.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said government helicopters dropped leaflets Thursday in rebel-held areas urging villagers to come to government-controlled territory and assuring their safety.

Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said authorities were urging civilians to leave areas of fighting because "the government's main concern is to protect them."

U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss said about 150,000 people have been displaced from their homes in rebel areas, including about 50,000 within the last three months.

Aid agencies say health authorities are struggling to meet the basic needs of the displaced, but the government insists it is providing adequate food and shelter. In an uncommon arrangement, the government maintains agents and offices inside rebel-held territory to provide services to the population.

The civil war flared 2 1/2 years ago, and the government drove the rebels out of the east last year. The two sides were locked for months in a virtual stalemate along the borders of the Tamil Tigers' de facto state in the north, but troops broke through the rebels' defenses in recent weeks and have seized a series of key towns and bases.

Government officials say they hope to crush the group by the end of the year.

In the latest fighting, air force planes bombed a northern rebel base Friday, and ground battles across the northern region killed 34 rebels and one government soldier, the military said.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not immediately be reached for comment.

Both sides routinely exaggerate enemy casualties and underreport their own. Independent verification of the fighting is not possible because most journalists are barred from the war zone.

The rebels have fought for an independent state in the north and east since 1983, following decades of marginalization of ethnic Tamils by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

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