Colombo - Refugees streamed out of the shrinking Tamil rebel-held areas again Wednesday as government troops tightened a cordon around the zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka, military spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. Rambukwella told journalists that 81,420 civilian refugees had been counted since Monday in the Puthumathalan area, about 390 kilometres north-east of the capital, and the exodus was continuing.
"We need to capture only eight more kilometres to regain full control of the area," Rambukwella said, declining to give a number of the civilians remaining in the conflict zone.
Other sources estimated that there were at least 40,000 civilians in the territory still held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
A doctor based in the zone claimed the army was shelling some areas with artillery.
Dr Thiyagaraja Sathiyamoorthy told the German Press Agency
