A week long clashes between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the government troops have displaced over 4, 000 people in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, relief officials said Thursday. The Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels have been exchanging heavy artillery and mortar fire and the internally displaced have mostly come from the Sinhala majority community settlements in the eastern post district of Trincomalee. The chief government administrative office at Kantalai in the district said nearly 2,000 families from the settlements of Somapura, Sirimangalapura, Alioluwa and Mahaweligama had found refuge at Kantalai. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that they have launched action to help the civilians flee the battle zones.
The Nordic truce monitoring group, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has been critical of both sides. Relief workers say they have been hit with logistics problems in catering to the needs of the displaced people.