WORLD BRIEFING / SRI LANKA
Aid groups and the U.N. appealed to be allowed to survey the aftermath of the final battle of Sri Lanka’s civil war and pushed for unfettered access to some 280,000 Tamils displaced from the former combat zone.
Pressure mounted on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to open areas that have been off limits to independent journalists and aid workers for months, amid reports that thousands of civilians were killed in the crossfire between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels in the final weeks of the 25-year war.
Rishard Badurdeen, the minister for resettlement, said foreign access to the camps was restricted because fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were hiding among the refugees.
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