UN official: Sri Lanka fighting traps thousands

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and rebels retreating to a small patch of jungle has trapped thousands of innocent people and killed “many” civilians, a senior U.N. official said Monday.
The military captured the rebels’ final stronghold of Mullaittivu on Sunday and fought heavy battles with the separatists in a rapidly shrinking, densely populated war zone on Monday, the military said.
With a huge civilian population in the confined area, the situation has grown desperate in recent days, U.N. resident coordinator Neil Buhne said.
“There have been many civilians killed over the last two days,” he said. “It’s really a crisis now.”
Buhne said that until recently both sides in the fighting worked hard to avoid civilian casualties.
“But in the current phase, with such a level of fighting and with so many people around, unless there is very, very close attention to it, it’s almost inevitable,” he said.