UN agencies begin aiding Sri Lankans who fled recent fighting

United Nations agencies have started delivering food, safe water and other basic needs to the over 10,000 Sri Lankans displaced by recent clashes between the Government and the separatist Tamil rebels, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

A joint UN assessment team had gone to the Trincomalee district of northern Sri Lanka on Friday following clashes with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and military air strikes last week.

The team reported that on April 21, some 8,500 people were displaced as a result of explosive attacks in the town of Muttur, according to a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

UNHCR said that on April 10, an estimated 3,000 other residents were displaced following a market place bombing in Trincomalee town that killed 16 people and sparked an upsurge in inter-ethnic violence, including the burning and looting of houses.

The displaced have sought temporary shelter in schools, churches and other public buildings, UNHCR said Friday, adding that the situation seems to have stabilized enough to allow humanitarian agencies to gain access to the affected people, some of whom visit their homes during the day but return to safer havens at night.