& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Thousands flee home as Lanka battle flares

Says ICRC; fighting kills 14 more rebels

AFP, AP, Colombo
Tens of thousands of people are on the run in northern Sri Lanka where fighting between government troops and Tamil rebels has intensified in recent weeks, the Red Cross said yesterday.
Some of the displaced who have headed to the Tamil Tigers' political capital, Kilinochchi district, had been on the run for months, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
"Among those displaced... are people who have had to abandon their homes several times in the recent months," the ICRC said in a statement.
Access to food, shelter, sanitation and clean water was an urgent priority for those fleeing, the ICRC said.
Health facilities were "strug
gling to cope with the increased demand."
"Many people have received basic humanitarian relief but as the number of displaced persons increases, so do their needs," said Anthony Dalziel, the ICRC's deputy head of delegation in Sri Lanka.
United Nations aid agencies working in the conflict-hit areas said 112,019 people had been internally displaced in the past two months and warned that "the figure is expected to increase. ”
"The genera) security situation in Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu districts remains tense and unpredictable with ongoing military operations and exchange of mortar, artillery shelling and air attacks," the agencies said in a separate statement.
A wave of battles across the front lines in Sri Lanka's 25-year-oId civil
war killed 14 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers, the military said yesterday.
Government jets hit a series of Tamil Tiger targets in the Mullaittivu region early Thursday in support of troops fighting on the ground, the military said in a statement.
Fighting has escalated in recent weeks, with the military capturing a series of rebel bases and large chunks of territory, and government officials reiterating their pledge to crush the rebel group by the end of the year.
In fighting Wednesday, troops killed seven rebels in the Welioya region, the military said. Fighting In Vavuniya killed six rebels and another rebel fighter was killed in the Jaffna region, it said. The Tamil Tigers killed one soldier in Welioya and another in Kundambimulai
FROM PAGE 16
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilantliirayan was not available for comment. Both sides routinely exaggerate enemy casualties and underreport their own. Independent verification of the fighting is not possible because most journalists are barred from the war zone.
About 12,000 families who were displaced during June and July fight ing, have now moved further north, closer to Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (206 miles) north of Colombo.
Reporter are not allowed access to the region, and only a few aid agencies have been granted permission to operate inside rebel-held areas.
Ilie government has poured a record 1.5 billion dollars into this year's war efforts and troops are now concentrating on dismantling the LTTE's de facto state in the north.
Colombo pulled out of a truce with the LTTE in January, saying it had the upper hand in the long-running conflict that has claimed tens ofthousands of lives since 1972.
The Tamils are figliting for an independent homeland.
Sri Lanka's defence ministry said security forces were marching towards Kilinochchi in efforts to dismantle the de facto state of the Tiger guerrillas.