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Lankan troops gun down 46 rebels in fresh fighting

Aid groups seek access to war-torn areas

AFP, Colombo/New Delhi
Sri Lankan government troops killed at least 46 rebels during weekend battles in the northeast of the island where they have cornered the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, the defence ministry said yesterday.
The Tiger fighters were shot dead in two day's of fighting in and around the town of Puthukkudiriruppu, the ministry said in a statement.
Military officials say the rebels have been pushed back into a narrow strip ol jungle coastline and will be wiped out by next month.
"Sporadic fighting and small scale door-to-door operations are continuing in the area targeting enemy pockets and resistance positions," the ministry'said.
There was no immediate comment from the Tigers, but the pro-rebel Tamilnet website accused the military of shelling civilian areas and killing 179 people since Thursday.
The military' denies targeting civilians and in turn blames the Tigers for holding tens of thousands as human shields.
The international community, led by the United Nanons, has raised concents for the safety of civilians trapped in the conflict zone and called fur a halt in the fighting to allow non-combatants to move to safety.
Earlier a senior European official said Saturday that aid groups want to help Sri Irinka meet the humanitarian needs of civilians in the country’s battle zone and are not against" the government.
Colombo has drawn international criticism for not allowing safe passage for tens of thousands of non-combatants caught in a narrow strip of coastal jungle in the northeast where its military has cornered the Tamil Tiger rebels.
But Sri Lanka hit back earlier this week against human rights and aid groups, accusing them of supporting the rebels and of trying to prolong the island's civil war.
Speaking here after he was given special
government permission to visit Vavuniya in northern Sri Lankan earlier this week, aid official Esko Kentrschynskyj said: "We want to reassure the Sri Lankan government we are not against them. ”
"We are just asking to be partners," added Kentrschynskyj, head of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) unit for Asia and Latin America.
"We see our role as complementary to the government in meeting the humanitarian challenge," which could quickly spiral out of control, he said.
Kentrschynskyj, who visited relief centres in Vavuniya, said refugees from the fighting between government troops and Tamil rebels were streaming into camps at a rate of 1,000 a day.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is currently the only international humanitarian organisation allowed into the conflict zone but other aid groups have been seeking access.