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| Tens of thousands flee Lanka war .. |
| Tens of thousands flee Lanka war zone as deadline nears
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| SRI LANKA
, 21-April-2009
2:19:5 AM |
| Tens of thousands of civilians fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone in a record exodus ahead of the government's deadline Tuesday for separatist Tamil rebels there to surrender, officials said.
More than 39,000 civilians arrived at military checkpoints on Monday, within hours of a military operation that saw Sri Lankan soldiers break through a barrier that the Tamil Tiger rebels had erected to defend their ever-shrinking slice of territory along the northern coast.
The number of fleeing civilians Monday was the largest in a single day, and that rate was expected to increase Tuesday as more people made their way out, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The government issued a 24-hour deadline Monday for the cornered rebels to surrender or face a final assault - a signal that the insurgents may be on the verge of total defeat after 25 years of rebellion. They did not respond to the ultimatum as the Tuesday noon (0630 GMT) deadline approached
Meanwhile, the sheer number of fleeing civilians made it clear the government had vastly underestimated the number of those caught in the fighting.
Aid groups have said in recent weeks that more than 100,000 civilians were stranded in the war zone, while the government put the number at about 40,000, roughly the number that crossed over Monday.
More than 4,500 civilians have been killed in the past three months, according to U.N. estimates. The U.N. Children's Fund said it fears for the safety of children still trapped in the war zone if fighting continues and the rebels refuse to allow people to leave.
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