COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's advance against Tamil Tiger rebels, now in its final stages, has been slowed considerably by the presence of civilians in the war zone, the nation's top defence official says.

An estimated 70,000 civilians are inside the shrinking territory in the coastal area of Mullaittivu, into which the rebels have been penned after losing their mini-state, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said.

Sri Lanka's government stands firm against terrorists using civilian human shields.

The Sri Lankan government is steadily gaining ground against the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and an end to that country's 26-year-old civil war may finally be in sight. Now the United Nations, European Union and U.S. worry about a looming humanitarian crisis in the conflict zone. With the Tigers reportedly holding civilians hostage as human shields, Colombo has few good options. But the worst would be to stop now.

By Shihar Aneez

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - The Tamil Tigers gave V. Rasamalar no choice in how she would die -- the separatist rebels told her she would die alongside them in Sri Lanka's war zone.

But the mother of two escaped heavy fighting and fled to an army-controlled area. She and her children are now living with about 1,000 other refugees in a military-run transit camp in the northern city of Vavuniya.

Sri Lanka's war-displaced yearn to return home 

By P. Karunakharan 

Vavuniya (Sri Lanka): Having lost his father to long-range fire, 23-year-old Aruldasan and a group of 40 other war-displaced people recently succeeded in escaping from Mullaitivu after 20 gruelling days.