MUTTUR (Sri Lanka), April 27: Thousands of frightened people have been left homeless in Sri Lanka after air strikes on suspected Tamil Tiger rebel positions, the guerillas and a UN official said on Thursday.

“More than 40,000 people have been displaced and are languishing as refugees,” the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a statement.

Meanwhile, violence continued when five security personnel died on Thursday in three separate mine attacks blamed on Tiger rebels, the military said.

The LTTE has accused the international community of ignoring the plight of the homeless in the island’s north-eastern district of Trincomalee.

“They are terrorised. Normalcy in civilian life has been utterly destroyed,” the LTTE said.

Lyndon Jeffels, spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, said staff could not confirm the figure of 40,000 but it was clear that thousands of people were on the move.

“Certainly it seems that there is a very significant displacement as a consequence of the aerial bombardment,” Jeffels told BBC radio.

In Colombo, government spokesman Rohitha Bogollagama said refugee numbers were exaggerated and the situation in Trincomalee was returning to normal.

“The Muttur area does not have even a population of 20,000 and to say there are 40,000 refugees is a gross exaggeration,” said Bogollagama who is also a government peace negotiator.

A priest in Muttur said about 130 people had sought refuge at the Sacred Heart church in Muttur after the bombing began.

“People are afraid after the aerial bombings. The ground was shaking and people got really scared. They expect war to break out at any moment and they don’t want to get caught in the middle,” said Father Sebastien Ignatius.

Joseph Anthony, 34, a farm worker, was staying with his family of five in a tent on the church property.

“There is no security in our house. They were dropping bombs on the LTTE area about a kilometre away. We are very scared they will restart the war and we could get caught in the middle,” he said.

Most of the families seeking refuge at the church were Tamil Christians.

“For now we are coping but we have heard more families are on the way,” the priest said.

The military, saying it was acting in self-defence, launched the aerial bombardments after a woman pretending to be pregnant blew herself up at army headquarters, about 260 kilometres from Trincomalee on Tuesday.

The suicide bombing targeted the head of the army, leaving him severely wounded. He was among 30 people hurt while 10 others were killed.—AFP