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Fighting rages in Sri Lanka, more civilians flee
Fri May 15, 2009 11:05am EDT
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By C. Bryson Hull
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops advanced on the Tamil Tigers on Friday and 5,000 civilians fled the shrinking war zone, signaling a military finish to Asia's longest modern war despite Western condemnation and calls for a negotiated end.
With an apparent end to Sri Lanka's 25-year separatist conflict in sight, the U.N. rights chief backed calls for an independent inquiry into possible war crimes and human rights violations by both sides.
The stakes could not be higher for either side. The Tigers face certain destruction by overwhelming firepower and force, and Sri Lanka wants to ensure the rebels do not escape from the jaws of defeat, as they have earlier in a war that began in 1983.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said combat forced it to temporarily halt evacuations and aid delivery to people trapped on the Indian Ocean island's northeast coast.
"Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," ICRC operations director Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement. "No humanitarian organization can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices."
The military said 5,000 people escaped on Friday from the 2.5 square km (1 sq mile) held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after 3,765 fled on Thursday across a lagoon under rebel fire, some of them floating in inflated tire tubes.
"Troops are coming along the coastal line, and closing in," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. "We want to rescue the civilians in 48 hours."
Pro-rebel website www.TamilNet.com reported on Friday that "close-quarter fighting was on," quoting an unidentified rescue worker who said most civilians were hiding in bunkers.
Later, it reported that a volunteer doctor appointed by the LTTE had seen at least 800 dead bodies.
DESPERATE END
Signs the LTTE was desperate grew.
"We have heard that the LTTE is making its last calls to the diaspora, saying they expect to be killed," a diplomat in Colombo told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The wife and children of Soosai, the nom de guerre of the Tigers' naval wing chief, were captured trying to escape in a boat carrying about $5,000 in cash, the navy said.
The two sides traded accusations over the use of banned weapons like cluster bombs and white phosphorus, with the military warning the LTTE could use the latter to slaughter civilians en masse and blame the government.
Getting independent confirmation of battlefield events is nearly impossible, since most outsiders are barred from it and both sides have repeatedly distorted accounts to their advantage. Continued...
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