Lanka war refugees held by govt: HRW

Thousands of Tamils fleeing heavy fighting in the north of Sri Lanka are trapped by the government and being denied basic provisions, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.
People who have fled areas under control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels to seek safety in government-controlled regions are detained in army-run camps, the New York-based rights group said in a report.
"Civilians are trapped in a war zone with limited aid because the government ordered the UN and other aid workers out," HRW's Asia director Brad Adams said.
"To add insult to injury, people who manage to flee the fighting end up being held indefinitely in army-run prison camps."
HRW said the camps were short of shelter and sanitation.
"The government's 'welfare centres' for civilians fleeing the Wanni are just badly disguised prisons," said Adams. "The sad irony is that many of those now detained by the government were fleeing LTTE abuses."
The Colombo government has said it runs a successful humanitarian relief programme, but the rights group said there was a "drastic shortage" of food, shelter, water and sanitation supplies.
There was no immediate response from the government, which is battling to crush the rebels who have been fighting for a separate homeland since 1972.
However, President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday asked the LTTE to allow the tens of thousands of people trapped in rebel-held areas to move freely to government-controlled areas.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan troops launched a major attack Monday against Tamil rebel fortifications, sparking clashes that killed 57 insurgents and 10 soldiers, the military said. The Tamil Tigers said more than 100 soldiers were killed.
Government forces have seized a large area of rebel-held territory in recent months and backed the Tigers into small areas in the lush jungles of the island nation's northeast.
However, troops have been locked in heavy battles at the edge of Kilinochchi the rebel administrative capital for nearly two months amid heavy rains and stiff fighting. The government claimed last month the fall of Kilinochchi was "imminent."
The army killed 57 insurgents and lost 10 soldiers in a bid to capture an earth berm fortification erected by the rebels to protect their de facto capital, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The military succeeded in seizing another mile-wide (2 kilometre) stretch of the 11-mile (17-kilometer) long earthen bunker Monday. The army now controls more than 7 kilometres, Nanayakkara said.
With most communication cut to rebel areas, Tiger spokesmen could not be reached for comment.