The army personnel who accompanied the journalists did not allow them to interact freely with the civilians, with one of them even warning that there could be a suicide bomber amidst the group.
"The LTTE do not tell us anything. We are very scared of the puligal (Tigers) who have sophisticated weapons and other materials. How can we think of escaping?" Arumugam, an Internally Displaced Person, said.
In the midst of all happenings, journalists made a bee line to have a glance at the birth certificate of Velupillai Prabhakaran and his son Charles Antony, which were neatly laminated and kept for public view.
Image: Civilians, some of the more than 100,000 that have fled the area held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, hold food and water handed by Sri Lankan government soldiers in the town of Putumatalan located near the 'No Fire Zone' in northern Sri Lanka.
Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
Also see: After Prabhakaran, what next?
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