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COLOMBO (AFP) - - More than 1,100 civilians fled Sri Lanka's war zone as government troops fought to wipe out separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, the military said Sunday.
Of the 1,150 who escaped from rebel-controlled areas on Saturday, 108 left by boat while the others walked out through the jungle, it said in a statement.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Sunday that it had evacuated 493 patients and their relatives by sea from the northeast area of Puttumattalan to the northeastern town of Pulmoddai.
ICRC spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne said the Red Cross had also delivered medicine to the makeshift hospital in Puttumattalan, deep inside rebel territory, where tens of thousands of people are trapped due to the fighting.
Since February, the Red Cross has ferried nearly 5,000 patients and their relatives from Puttumattalan for treatment in government-controlled areas.
The military said it had killed two rebel leaders during fighting in the northeast of the island, where the guerrillas are cornered. It did not give details of troop casualties.
There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (LTTE), who the military says are about to lose their decades-long armed campaign for an independent Tamil homeland on the majority Sinhalese island.
Independent reports from the conflict zone are scarce as most journalists, aid workers and international observers are prevented from entering the area.
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