Colombo - Civilians caught in fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka were fleeing further into rebel-held areas on Friday, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured the UN on the safety of civilians.

Dr T Sathyamoorthy, based in a makeshift hospital in the conflict zone, who was speaking by telephone, said that civilians, running out of places to flee to, were now moving towards the coastal areas.

Colombo - Civilians caught in fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka are fleeing further into rebel-held areas on Friday as President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured the UN on the safety of civilians.

Dr T. Sathyamoorthy, based in a makeshift hospital in the conflict zone, who was speaking by telephone, said that civilians were now moving towards the coastal areas.

"We can hear the exchange of fire between the security forces and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)," said the doctor, who is based in Udayarakattukulam,
360 kilometres north-east of the capital Colombo.

New Delhi, Feb 6: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said though President Rajapakse has assured the safety of its civilians, but Colombo should make efforts to achieve the devolution and political solution to the decades-old ethnic conflict.

Colombo - Government troops entered a coastal stronghold of Tamil rebels Thursday as fighting intensified in the north-eastern part of Sri Lanka, reports from the war zone said.

Security forces entered the Chalai area, 395 kilometres north-east of the capital, amidst resistance from the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are putting up a final effort to prevent troops from entering the last areas under their control.

The main base of the sea unit of the LTTE was located in Chalai, but there was no immediate confirmation from the military whether they had overrun the base during the fighting.

New Delhi - Political parties and pressure groups Wednesday called a general strike in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu to protest Sri Lanka's military offensive against the Tamil rebels.

Some incidents of violence were reported as protestors blocked trains, stoned buses and ransacked a post office in different parts of the state.

At least 30 students were arrested for attempting to blockade roads in state capital Chennai where nearly 8,000 police were deployed, local police said.

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called for an end to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka that, he said, was claiming "many innocent victims". The pontiff, speaking during his weekly general audience, said he was "concerned" by the situation in the south-eastern Asian island- state, where government troops are fighting Tamil rebels.

According to United Nations officials some 52 civilians were killed during clashes on Tuesday.

An estimated 250,000 civilians are trapped in the island's north- eastern conflict zone.