Colombo:
The US has said that more than one lakh Tamil civilians were still present in the last small strip of land controlled by the LTTE as seen in a recent satellite imagery, prompting Sri Lankan government who said it may be an earlier image.
The US State Department on Tuesday released a satellite imagery suggesting thousands of people could still be trapped in the No Fire Zone.
The image showed about 25,000 tents packed into a coastal strip about 8 square miles large, the State Department report said.
Based on the number of tents, it was estimated that about 1,25,000 people were in the conflict zone before about 60,000 civilians escaped till last evening, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Lankan government today disputed the claims, saying "it is not true".
"This could have been an earlier image," Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The spokesman said more than 1,00,000 people have quit the LTTE held areas in the No Fire Zone located towards the south of Ambalavanpokkanai near Pudukudiyirippu.
While the Sri Lankan officials quoting the Tamil displaced civilians, who escaped from the areas, said there could still be around 10,000-15,000 people in the NFZ, the UN observers are of the view that there could be between 30,000-40,000 civilians still trapped in the conflict zone.
The US State Department on Tuesday released a satellite imagery suggesting thousands of people could still be trapped in the No Fire Zone.
The image showed about 25,000 tents packed into a coastal strip about 8 square miles large, the State Department report said.
Based on the number of tents, it was estimated that about 1,25,000 people were in the conflict zone before about 60,000 civilians escaped till last evening, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Lankan government today disputed the claims, saying "it is not true".
"This could have been an earlier image," Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
The spokesman said more than 1,00,000 people have quit the LTTE held areas in the No Fire Zone located towards the south of Ambalavanpokkanai near Pudukudiyirippu.
While the Sri Lankan officials quoting the Tamil displaced civilians, who escaped from the areas, said there could still be around 10,000-15,000 people in the NFZ, the UN observers are of the view that there could be between 30,000-40,000 civilians still trapped in the conflict zone.
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