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UNITED NATIONS - Around 50,000 civilians are trapped in the conflict zone in northeastern Sri Lanka amid fighting between cornered Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces, a UN official said Thursday.
"We still estimate that about 50,000 remain there," said UN assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs Catherine Bragg.
She told a press conference that some 95,000 people had already managed to flee the zone to reach refugee camps set up outside the conflict zone, although she stressed "all these are estimates, we don't have exact figures."
The Sri Lankan army has said some 15,000 to 20,000 civilians are still trapped in the narrow strip of land where the Tigers had been encircled by government forces.
The army said the guerrillas from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were confined to a mere 10-12 square kilometres (around four square miles) of territory on the northeast coast of the Indian Ocean island.
- AFP /ls
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