An exodus of civilians fleeing Sri Lanka's war zone has reached 39,000 with numbers expected to rise.
The military confirmed the mass exodus from Tamil Tiger held territory before its final deadline for the rebels to surrender was to expire.
The huge outpouring of people started yesterday after soldiers breached an earthen barrier blocking the main route out of a 17km.sq no-fire zone in Puttumatalanon on the northeastern coast.
The area is the last temporary fortification controlled by the separatist Tigers.
It is unclear how many civilians remain inside the no-fire zone.
The presence of tens of thousands of civilians trapped by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been the main obstacle for the Sri Lankan military, which had cornered the rebels with the aim of finishing what is a 25-year-old war.
The UN and Western governments have urged the military to renew a brief truce to negotiate the peoples' exit, a plea the government has rejected on the grounds that the Tigers have dismissed all desperate pleas to let the people out.
‘There are 39,081 civilians that have arrived and they are still arriving,’ military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. ‘Military operations are still continuing.’
Sri Lanka is seeking a $1.9bn International Monetary Fund loan to shore up a balance of payments crisis and boost flagging foreign exchange reserves, half of which were spent defending the rupee in the last four months of 2008.
Yesterday, the military gave the LTTE a last ultimatum to surrender.
It has given similar ultimatums in the past, and it was not clear what would happen once it passed.
Yesterday in London, thousands of Tamils blocked streets outside Britain's parliament, accusing the Sri Lankan government of disregarding civilians caught up in its war against Tamil Tiger rebels and demanding a ceasefire.
Large numbers of police were deployed to contain the peaceful demonstration after it spilled out from the square in front of parliament to block several major streets.
