The convoy has been trapped for days in the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu, which lies just across the lines of confrontation in territory controlled by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The United Nations says that if permission is granted by the LTTE, and if a lull in fighting permits, the convoy will cross the frontline at midday Thursday. The injured will then be transported to Ministry of Health hospitals in the town of Vavuniya that can cope with their wounds.

An estimated 250,000 civilians are trapped in areas of northern Sri Lanka where fighting continues between government forces and the LTTE.

Nearly 5,000 people have managed to cross the zones held by the group to government-controlled areas since late November, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for all parties to allow and facilitate the movement of the 250,000 civilians currently caught up in fighting to safe areas.

"He calls on the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka to accord immediate and absolute priority to ensuring the protection and well-being of civilians, including humanitarian aid workers," a UN spokesperson said in a statement issued on Monday. More... Published: Wed Jan 28 21:15:02 EST 2009

The statement by the ICRC “fails to note the current ground realities,” the Defense Ministry said on its Web site. It appeals to both sides to allow civilians to leave combat zones when it is the LTTE that is stopping their movement.

The military is “concerned with the welfare of civilians” as it mounts its offensive, Keheliya Rambukwella, a cabinet minister and defense spokesman, said in Colombo yesterday.

The ICRC and the United Nations say an estimated 250,000 civilians are trapped in the conflict zone. The army says it has driven the Tamil Tigers into a 300 square kilometer (115 square mile) pocket in the northeast as it tries to end the group’s 26- year fight for a separate homeland in the north and east of the island nation.

“The ICRC staff in Colombo are well aware that it is the LTTE that has barred the movement of civilians,” the report on the Defense Ministry’s Web site said. “It is true that the ICRC code of operation demands neutrality. Neutrality, however, demands objectivity in analysis and reporting, not generalizations that portray the government in a negative light.” More... Published: Wed Jan 28 21:16:16 EST 2009

Soldiers backed by tanks and air cover were battling to establish full control over the 30-kilometre (18 mile) stretch of coast, Brigadier Nandana Udawatte told an AFP reporter on the scene.

"We are moving along the coast as well as to the north-west towards another pocket of Tiger resistance," he told journalists flown to Kumalamunai, a small settlement just south of Mullaittivu town that was captured Sunday.

The military planned to take journalists by road to Mullaittivu later Tuesday to highlight their success in driving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) out of their military headquarters.

Udawatte said his troops had killed at least 2,000 Tamil Tiger rebels and wounded nearly 3,000 in the year-long battle to capture Mullaittivu. More... Published: Tue Jan 27 05:09:35 EST 2009