Death, Injury Threaten 250,000 Sri Lankan Civilians Caught In Crossfire

January 30, 2009 10:33 p.m. EST

Colombo, Sri Lanka (AHN) - Some 250,000 civilians caught in the crossfire between fighting government troops and Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka are facing death and injury as Colombo ruled out a ceasefire Friday.

The threat became serious as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) claimed Friday that the civilians refused to heed international humanitarian agencies' call to evacuate to safety zones because they want the rebels to protect them against the Sri Lankan military.

"There will be no ceasefire," Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said in a press conference after meeting Colombo-based diplomats, according to AFP. "We will continue with our military operations and we will continue to liberate areas which have not been liberated so far."

The statement was in response to a call by European Union Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel for a halt to the conflict.

LTTE political chief B Nadesan told Lankanewspapers.com that the people did not wish to end up in the hands of `their killers`, referring to government soldiers. The statement was made in response to an appeal of international relief organizations, including United Nations agencies, to the LTTE to allow civilians to leave areas under its control.

On Thursday, UN aid workers rescued 50 critically injured children from an unspecified area, where fighting is intense, UN spokesman James Elder said.

The government has been trying to quell the rebellion by the ethnic Tamil minority group since 1983. The LTTE wants a separate homeland for themselves claiming they have been marginalized and oppressed by the Sinhalese, the majority ethnic group in the island country. The conflict has killed 70,000 people, so far.