Sri Lanka government authorities said about 63,000 Tamil civilians have escaped the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam held areas in the North Eastern Sri Lanka and escaped to the Sri Lanka government controlled areas seeking the services of the welfare centers during Monday and Tuesday.
The Minister of rehabilitation said 154 buses have been deployed to Wanni area to transport the internally displaced persons to the welfare centers.
At a press conference in Colombo the Minister said 74,000 IDP’s have been temporarily resettled and and accommodation for another 58,000 have been built .
He said 6700 tents also have been sent for the use of the IDP’s. He said blocks of land to built more welfare centers have been demarcated at Periyankulam, Medawachchiya, and schools have been earmarked as temporary shelters at Puliyankulam, Thannikal and Omanthai.
The IDP’s are expected to remain in the welfare centers until the security forces could complete the removal of thousands of land mines buried in the Vanni area.
Meanwhile a deadline for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to surrender to the security forces ended 6.30 GMT on Tuesday with no response from the rebels.
Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka revealed that although the army knows the general area the LTTE leader is hiding they do not know exactly where he stays. He said action will be taken to destroy him.
He told the BBC , “We do not know exactly the place where he is hiding, but we suspect he is most probably hiding among the civilians, trying to take cover behind them.
“Therefore we have to be very careful about what action we take to ensure that no civilians get harmed.”
Rebel leader Prabhakaran was hiding in coastal strip about 8km long and 1.5km wide, Lt Gen Fonseka was quoted having said.
Troops believe he could try to escape the war zone by boat, a method used by other rebel leaders.
The army commander said there could be only 300-400 armed cadres still remaining but he said there could about also 700 forcibly armed people there.
1. 12km-long defensive earthworks constructed by Tamil Tigers using mechanical diggers
2. Sri Lankan army uses explosives to destroy a 3km section
3. Gap allows thousands of refugees to flee Tiger-held territory
The above illustration indicates how the security forces breached an
Earthen mound by exploding and made way for the hostages.
By Walter Jayawardhana