Chaos, confusion as Sri Lankan Muslims flee war

PALATHOPPUR, Sri Lanka, Aug 4 (Reuters) Artillery fire thunders in the background as thousands of Sri Lankan Muslims fleeing an eastern war-torn town arrive at this village by bus, tractors, motorcycles and on foot.

The Red Cross estimates some 20,000-30,000 people fled south from Mutur today, leaving behind them a town devastated by days of fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

''We had to leave,'' said 25-year-old water board employee M A Jevahir, trying to keep an eye on his family amongst the thousands taking shelter under trees and in abandoned buildings.

''We couldn't stay any longer. But this place does not feel safe either,'' he said.

Women cried and wailed, while some men stoically clutched the Koran. People, some obviously dehydrated after walking for long, rushed to a truck bringing water.

Most simply wanted to move away from the violence.

Northeast Sri Lanka is home to a volatile mix of Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils. Some residents of mostly Muslim Mutur said Tamil residents had been told by the LTTE to leave weeks ago.

''The LTTE want to divide the country,'' shouted Abdul Aziz Raheed, pointing towards rebel territory. ''The Tamils have there own place but this is our land. They want us gone. They have done this before, in Jaffna in 1991.'' The LTTE, which has fought for two decades for a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east, evicted the Muslim population of the northern Jaffna peninsula in the mid-1990s. Muslims in eastern Sri Lanka have always feared a repeat.

ETHNIC FAULT LINES Help in the village is hampered by ongoing fighting and ethnic tension. The windows on a Red Cross vehicle were smashed by a mob of majority Sinhalese, hardliners among whom accuse international aid workers of only helping Tamils.

Fighting is continuing both around Mutur and the LTTE-held water sluice gate that sparked the confrontation last month when irrigation was turned off to some 50,000 farmers in government territory. Fields in the area are now dry and crops stunted.

Elsewhere, soldiers just back from the frontline sit under trees or slump on their rucksacks, grime and exhaustion on their faces.

Other soldiers burn scrubland near the main roads to reduce the risk of LTTE ambushes while Russian-built MI-24 attack helicopters of the Sri Lanka Air Force s fly low towards the battlefield.

Most of the explosions in the background seem to be far away, but many of teh displaced screamed and ran for cover after shells or mortar bombs fell nearer, perhaps only two or three miles north, where the roads are still clogged with people.

Some of the displaced said shells fell near them as they walked out of the ruined town. While none of the refugees saw anyone killed during the mass evacuation, some aid workers said there were reports of up to 20 dead.

There were some in the crowd who were wounded by explosions in Mutur. An ambulance carried two babies, one with blast wounds to the face.

''This is total chaos,'' said one Sri Lankan staff of an international aid group, who lived in Mutur. ''No-one is in charge here. Excuse me, I must go and find my family.'' REUTERS SY VV1933