Some 6,000 to 7,000 families were trying to get out of Muttur, the seaside town that has been the focus of the worst fighting, said Yvonne Dunton, Trincomalee head of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The ICRC was trying to get access to them, but shelling by both the Tamil Tiger rebels and the military in Muttur, about eight kilometers (five miles) across a small bay from Trincomalee, was making the task difficult, according to district administration officials, speaking on condition that they not be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, the AP reports.
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