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Over 100,000 flee Sri Lanka warzone

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-23 19:11

The United Nations estimates tens of thousands are inside the remaining area, while the International Committee of the Red Cross has said at least 50,000 remain in "catastrophic" conditions.

The people who have fled have been on foot for days, and stuck in the war zone with minimal food, water or medical care, aid agencies said.

Civilians arrive at the village of Putumatalan in Puthukkudiyirippu, northern Sri Lanka April 22, 2009 after fleeing an area still controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the 'No Fire Zone'. [Agencies]

Pictures released by the government showed scores of people carrying their belongings on their backs, and others helping the sick or elderly to move.

Related readings:  More civilians fleeing conflicting area in Sri Lanka  Terrorists attack Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore  Sri Lanka gives Tigers 24-hr ultimatum  Red Cross to evacuate wounded from Sri Lanka war

One showed a woman giving birth inside a bus carrying her to a refugee camp, with two midwives helping deliver the child.

A former rebel spokesman, Daya Master, was being interrogated after he became the most senior rebel to surrender so far, Nanayakkara said.

Surrender is an act considered a betrayal to the cause and leader Prabhakaran's dictate that followers wear cyanide vials to be taken in case of capture.

Sri Lanka has ruled out any further truces, while the LTTE has said it will never surrender its fight to build a separate state for Tamils, which started in the early 1970s and erupted into a full civil war in 1983.

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