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COLOMBO — Sri Lanka's prime minister said Thursday government forces will not suspend an offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels, rejecting calls for a cease-fire by donor countries concerned by reports of growing civilian casualties.
The U.S., Britain and Canada have urged both sides to agree to a temporary cease-fire to allow civilians and the wounded to leave the conflict zone and asked that humanitarian agencies be given access. Sri Lanka barred nearly all aid groups from the war zone last year.
The United Nations and other aid agencies say some 250,000 civilians are trapped in the war zone along with the rebels, and suffering a high number of casualties. At least 52 civilians were killed on Tuesday alone, according to he U.N. The total death toll is believed to be in hundreds.
"Our forces have now surrounded the last stronghold of the terrorists. Our troops are challenging the Tigers waiting in front of their den," Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told Parliament.
The government has repeatedly rejected calls for a cease-fire, saying it was a ploy by the rebels to buy time to regroup.
The Tamil Tigers, who are boxed in a 30-square-mile (85-square-kilometer) sliver of coastal land, appear on the verge of defeat after a 25-year war for a separate homeland for the country's minority Tamils. About 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
Wickremanayake described the fighting as a "humanitarian operation" to rid the nation of terrorism and to free the minority Tamils, saying they have lived under the yoke of Tamil Tiger oppression for decades.
"The government is not prepared to stop this humanitarian operation. No force can stop this operation. Government forces have already achieved significant victories against the terrorists," he said.
Wickremanayake said he heard reports some rebel fighters were planning to surrender.
"We are ready to accept anyone who will embrace democracy by giving up arms. We have said that from the beginning," he said.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said 1,182 civilians crossed over from the rebel area to government land on Wednesday and Thursday. "There are many more we are expecting," he said.
The government bars journalists from traveling to the area, making it impossible to obtain firsthand information. However, photographs and video of the wounded and dead, given to The Associated Press by independent observers, substantiate the reports coming out of the area.
The government says the army does not fire at civilian populations and is not responsible for any civilian casualties. However, it accuses the Tamil Tigers of using civilians as human shields, a charge the insurgents deny.
On Wednesday, more than 300 patients took refuge in a makeshift hospital after fleeing the war zone's last medical facility in Puthukkudiyiruppu, which was struck by artillery shells for days.
Accompanied by 18 staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, they made their way to a community center in Puttumatalan, an area that lacks clean drinking water, the Red Cross said in a statement.
"We have grave concerns for the well-being and safety of those who fled," said Paul Castella, head of the ICRC's Colombo delegation.
"We call upon both parties to meet their obligation under international humanitarian law to spare and protect at all times the sick and wounded as well as medical facilities and their personnel," he said.
Wickremanayake said the Tamil Tigers are now looking for ways to escape by mingling with the civilians, adding that troops are now searching the jungles for the Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.
"The last moment of Tigers will be painful and as well as decisive," he said.
