The number was reached when a group of 1,164 people reached Puthukkudiyiruppu in the northeast, the government said in a statement on its Web site yesterday, citing the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services.

“The ministry expects an increase in the number of civilians crossing over from the conflict zone in the next few days,” the government said. Soldiers are fighting in the Mullaitivu region where the army says the Tamil Tigers control only 28 square kilometers (10.8 square miles) of territory.

The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates as many as 150,000 people may still be caught in conflict areas in the northeast. Aid groups and the United Nations have repeatedly called on the government and the LTTE to stop fighting to allow food and medicines into the area and people to leave. More...Discuss this story Published: Mon Mar 23 23:54:11 EDT 2009

"While the Tamil Tigers have committed egregious acts, I am also alarmed by reports about actions taken by the government of Sri Lanka," Democrat John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote Rajapaksa.

Kerry said he had "grave concern" about reports that government forces had shelled civilians and hospitals in government-designated safe zones amid a fierce push to crush the rebel force, that humanitarian aid was not reaching civilians, and that the government had cracked down on journalists.

More...Discuss this story Published: Mon Mar 23 14:36:17 EDT 2009

Soldiers captured Iranapalai near Mullaitivu at the weekend, the army said on its Web site. The LTTE is blocking food supplies and firing on supply vessels to try to create the “myth” of starvation among civilians, it said.

“We call for a cease-fire, loudly and clearly,” B. Nadesan, the head of the LTTE’s political wing, said in an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times. “Non-stop artillery and aerial attacks are creating an unbearable situation.”

Sri Lanka’s military says it is on the brink of defeating the Tamil Tigers, who have fought for 26 years for a separate homeland in the north and east of the nation. The United Nations is leading calls for a cease-fire, saying as many as 180,000 people have been driven from their homes by the fighting in the northern Wanni region.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has ruled out any truce with the LTTE and is demanding the group’s unconditional surrender. More...Discuss this story Published: Mon Mar 23 06:20:45 EDT 2009