Tamil civilians 'out of war-zone'

Civilians have been flooding from the war zone in recent days

All the civilians who were trapped in Sri Lanka's northern war zone have escaped, military officials say.

Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said some 50,000 ethnic Tamils had fled the area over the past three days. The military claims cannot be verified.

He said earlier 70 Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels had been killed trying to escape from a tiny enclave where they are holed up in the island's north-east.

The army says it has cut off rebel access to the sea.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has claimed victory in the 26-year war.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says that, if corroborated, news that the war-zone was now free of civilians would be welcomed by the international community. A UN spokesman here told the BBC: "We're relieved if it is so."

See a map of the conflict region

For months, tens of thousands of Tamil civilians have been trapped in the war zone, vulnerable to bombardments as the government and Tamil Tiger rebels fought bitterly. The United Nations says they were being forcibly kept there by the rebels and that more than 6,000 have been killed since January.

Like all accounts from the war zone, the numbers cannot be independently verified, and official figures have been questionable.

Earlier this week the government said there were up to 20,000 trapped people in the war zone; now it says 50,000 have escaped within 72 hours.

The UN has told the BBC the army figures reinforced its view that Sri Lanka's authorities were ill-prepared for the huge influx of internally displaced people.

Refugee camps inland are already badly strained accommodating the huge numbers of those who have fled the conflict.

Rebels 'cornered'

Both the UN and Western governments have called on Sri Lanka to exercise restraint in its pursuit of a military victory over the Tigers.

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The final decisive battle 'is reaching its conclusion'

Despite President Rajapaksa's claim of military victory on Saturday, senior officials told the BBC that fighting was still continuing in the area where the LTTE leaders were said to be cornered.

A military spokesman has told the BBC the last remnants of the rebels are trapped in 1.5 square kilometres of jungle. Again, his assertion cannot be verified.

More than 70,000 people have died in the bitter war for a Tamil homeland.

Brig Nanayakkara said a "process of identification" was going on to identify the 70 rebels killed while trying to cross a lagoon in six boats.

But he added that the Tigers' leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was not believed to have been in the boats.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has become the latest leader to speak out on the issue, declaring on Saturday that there would be "consequences" if Sri Lanka did not work to ensure an orderly end to the conflict.

Speaking in Jordan before returning to Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa said: "My government, with the total commitment of our armed forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation finally defeated the LTTE militarily.

"I will be going back to a country that has been totally freed from the barbaric acts of the LTTE," he added.

We have restricted the LTTE to [a] one sq km-like area, so we will mop up and seize the rest of the LTTE cadres and the leadership Gotabhaya Rajapakse Sri Lanka defence secretary

But the Tigers' leadership has said repeatedly that they will not surrender, and are thought to be keeping thousands of civilians as human shields.

There have also been reports that the Tigers are preparing a mass suicide in the face of a military defeat.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's defence secretary told the BBC that the army was closing in on the remaining fighters for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the full name for the Tamil Tigers).

"We have restricted the LTTE to one square kilometre-like area, so we will mop up and seize the rest of the LTTE cadres and the leadership," said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

He said the army did not know exactly where to find the rebel leader, but expressed confidence he would be tracked down.

"If he has not committed suicide then he should be there," Mr Rajapakse said.

Vellupillai Prabhakaran began the fight for a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils in the early 1970s, progressing into a violent civil war in 1983.

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