Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger Rebels Call Ceasefire

Sri Lanka's government today rejected a unilateral ceasefire by Tamil Tiger rebels prompted by concerns about civilian casualties, instead demanding a full surrender.

The ceasefire came after government forces surrounded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a small area with thousands of civilians.

"In the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and in response to the calls made by the UN, EU, the governments of India and others, [the LTTE] has announced a unilateral ceasefire," an LTTE statement said.

But Sri Lanka's defence chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksam told Reuters that the rebels must surrender.

"That is a joke. They were not fighting with us, they were running from us. There is no need of a ceasefire. They must surrender. That is it," he said.

The Sri Lankan government said close to 200,000 people were now either inside the internment camps it had set up outside the no-fire zone or were emerging from the combat area.

According to official UN figures, at least 2,000 people are believed to have died in the fighting in the last month, although this figure does not include all of those killed in this week's intense fighting. On Friday, two UN officials privately confirmed to the Guardian that the civilian death toll since 20 January was close to 6,500.