To The Bitter End

摘要

Gaunt, wide-eyed and layered with grime, hundreds of civilians have started stumbling out of the diminishing patch of northern Sri Lanka that Tamil Tiger rebels continue to defend. Images released by the army show exhausted men, women and children clutching meagre belongings stuffed into schoolbags, sacks and weathered suitcases. Few wear shoes or slippers. Their feet are dusty and cracked from the trek into government-held areas.rnSome have injuries but there is no saying which side inflicted them. With fighting between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam reaching a fierce climax, civilians and the truth are both casualties of war. Journalists have no access to the battlefront or to the displaced and must depend on information released by the government or the Tigers.