The Sri Lankan army launched an operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in the country's north on Monday, and a deadline for the rebels to surrender passed Tuesday.
Government troops say they have rescued 39,000 civilians trapped in the area, but tens of thousands more remain wedged into an 8-square-mile strip of land on the island's northeastern coast, which remains controlled by the rebels, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.
The U.N.'s humanitarian agency described the conflict zone as "highly chaotic" Wednesday, with reports of continued fighting, and aid cut off to more than 80,000 people displaced by the fighting since April 1.
"While there are no verifiable numbers of overall casualties, we believe that significant numbers have been killed and injured in the military operation," the agency said.
The Tigers have been fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka's northeast since 1983. As many as 70,000 people have been killed since the civil war began, and the group has been declared.
But the rebels have suffered a string of military setbacks since November, with their provisional capital falling to government troops in January.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement on the conflict: "The United Nations remains extremely concerned about the safety of the civilians left in the combat area. Given that the area has shrunk even further, the potential for further significant casualties still remains."
The situation has led to stepped-up diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the conflict.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/sri.lanka.un/index.htmlLinkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=19262.0
