COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels said Tuesday that 1,000 civilians died in a government raid on their territory that the military says freed thousands of noncombatants from the war zone.
On Monday, Sri Lankan soldiers broke through a barrier that the Tamil Tiger rebels had erected to defend their ever-shrinking slice of territory. Some 35,000 civilians then poured out of the area and the exodus continued Tuesday.
The government said more than 50,000 have fled thus far, and the figure was expected to rise.
But the rebels said in an emailed statement that more than 1,000 civilians died in the government's raid and nearly 2,300 were wounded.
"And today a situation of bloodbath is prevailing," the statement said.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara denied the allegation.
The rebels called on the United Nations and the world community to act to rescue the trapped civilians.
The government and human rights groups, however, have accused the rebels of holding civilians against their will for use as human shields -- an allegation the rebels denied.
It is not possible to obtain independent accounts of the situation because the war zone is restricted to journalists.
Rights groups say tens of thousands of civilians remained trapped in the rebel-held enclave and fear the civilian death toll could spike if the military launched a final assault as it has threatened. On Tuesday, a government-imposed deadline for the rebels to surrender expired.
The rebels have fought since 1983 for an independent state for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the years of violence.
