Sri Lanka army - 'Human avalanche'

Thousands of civilians are leaving the conflict zone

The Sri Lankan military has denied shelling civilians inside the rebel-held area.Brig Nanayakkara told the BBC that only small-arms had been used.

He said the Tigers were targeting civilians because they knew that if non-combatants left, the rebels would be "sitting ducks".The army says three rebel suicide bombings had targeted fleeing civilians, killing 17.

One Tamil man who had just left the conflict zone said the rebels tried to shoot anyone planning to escape.

Local newspapers are covered with pictures of large numbers of people leaving rebel territory, says the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo.

One calls the process a "human avalanche".Reports suggest hospitals in the fighting zone were struggling to cope.

"We've had lots of dead bodies brought to the hospital, others are on the road," a health worker at Matalan hospital told the BBC World Service.

"Lots of the injured who are taken to the hospital die from blood loss - there is no blood-bank and a lot of people are anaemic because there is no food. People are suffering."

People escaped after troops broke through a fortification which had been blocking their advance into the Tigers' last stronghold, the army said on Monday.