The government has been under pressure for a temporary halt in the fighting

The Sri Lankan foreign secretary Palitha Kohona told BBC Sri Lanka correspondent Anbarasan Ethirajan that the details for a halt in the fighting will be worked out shortly.

Defence Affairs spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told BBC Sandeshaya that proposed pause should be based upon what he described as a “result-oriented” strategy.

The LTTE has made use of such pauses in the past, Minister Rambukwella said, to regroup and launch fresh attacks on the military forces.

Under pressure

“We will consider such a move provided we get assuarances that it will only be used to evacuate civilians,” he told BBC Sinhala Service.

	Minister says LTTE used previous pauses to regroup

The Sri Lankan government has been under immense pressure from the UN and other international bodies for a temporary halt in the fighting to allow time for tens of thousands of trapped civilians to escape the fighting.

The UN says nearly 3000 civilians may have been killed and 7000 others injured in the fighting in the last two months.

Earlier, the Sri Lankan military said more than fifty Tamil Tiger rebels died in land and sea battles in the north-east.

There has been no reaction from the Tamil Tigers to the military's claims but pro-rebel websites said the Tigers were offering stiff resistance in the area.

More evacuated

Neither version of events could be independently confirmed, as journalists are not allowed to report from inside the conflict zone.

Meanwhile, officials say more than 1600 civilians have fled the war zone and reached government-controlled area on Monday.

The ICRC said they evacuated 540 patients and relatives on Monday from the north.

ICRC spokesperson in Colombo, Sophie Romanens told BBC Sandeshaya that the group was brought from Puthumatalan by the Green Ocean Ferry and taken to Pulmoday transit hospital.

The government says more than 61,000 people have already fled from rebel-held areas and have been housed in special camps in the northern region.