Pulmudai local authorities say many civilians brough in from Puthumatalan haven't had a meal for weeks or months

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said in the last two days alone, more than three-thousand people had fled from the shrinking area of territory held by the Tamil Tigers.

The government says nearly fifty-thousand civilians have now come out of the zone and are being housed in special camps.

However, an even greater number remain trapped in the war zone.

Pulmudai hospital

Meanwhile, over 400 people are being treated in a makeshift hospital in Pulmudai, officials said.

	Sick and wounded are transported to Trincomalee by the ICRC

Pulmudai Pradesheeya Sabha chairman Adam Bava Towfeeq told BBC Sandeshaya that Sri Lankan doctors and nurses are helping eight Indian doctors to treat the patients brought in from the battlefield in Mullaitivu district.

There are many people in the makeshift hospital, he said, who haven't had sufficient food for many days.

"Their immediate need is not medical. They just need to get a proper meal more than anything else." he said.

"There are those who haven't changed their clothes for days. In addition to medical treatment, the government provide them with food and clothes," he told the BBC Sinhala service.

Troops have continued to gradually close in on Tamil Tiger positions, with the military saying they'd found an abandoned rebel naval base.