New York: A top UN official has asked the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to stop fighting and said thousands of civilians trapped in the country's north must be rescued immediately and provided with humanitarian assistance.
"The only way to get the civilians out of harm's way is a temporary humanitarian lull, during which aid workers and relief supplies must be allowed into the conflict zone and those who want to leave must be given the chance to do so," John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said.
Holmes called for immediate action to help those trapped in the Vanni region, warning that "a bloodbath on the beaches of northern Sri Lanka seems an increasingly real possibility."
The Sri Lankan military has pushed the LTTE into an area so small that any shooting or shelling inevitably causes casualties among the 150,000 to 190,000 civilians trapped in the same zone, he wrote in an opinion piece published in The Guardian today.
"It is clear that the LTTE is refusing to let people flee, though many are managing to escape somehow, and I fear the combatants may be gearing up for a final confrontation," Holmes said. PTI
New York: A top UN official has asked the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to stop fighting and said thousands of civilians trapped in the country's north must be rescued immediately and provided with humanitarian assistance. 
