(20 Jan 2007)
1. Various of civilians fleeing fighting making their way to government controlled region
2. Man carrying baby goat
3. People leading cattle into government region
4. SOUNDBITE: (Tamil) Voxpop
"We can't live there, there was shelling throughout the day before yesterday. So the LTTE ('Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam') let us go through the beach, so we came along and reached here."
5. Government soldier walking along crowded road
6. Various of military official reading out details of Tamil Tiger suspects detained by soldiers
7. Mother and baby crying
8. Various of civilians crying beside bus
9. Displaced civilians getting into bus destined for internally displaced persons camp
10. Weeping mother and relative of suspect sitting on bus
11. Various of displaced people on bus
12. Tractors pulling trailers filled with people fleeing fighting
13. Various of displaced people in trailers
++NIGHTSHOTS++
14. People at displaced persons camp
15. Various of people arriving at camp
16. Details of refugees being taken
STORYLINE:
Soldiers screened thousands of Tamil refugees as they fled heavy fighting in Sri Lanka's volatile east on Saturday and detained at least 11 people suspected of being separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said.
Friday's fighting sent thousands of villagers in Vaharai fleeing to safety in neighbouring, government-held Mankerni, where they were packed into tents and schools.
The area's top government official said between five thousand and six thousand refugees arrived in Mankerni on Friday.
Hundreds more arrived on Saturday on tractors, waving white flags, after they were forced to take a detour due to impassable roads in the district.
Some were then packed into buses for transportation to internally displaced people's camps.
Troops searched for booby traps and mines to clear in Vaharai, an impoverished rebel-held coastal strip in eastern Batticaloa district which was overrun on Friday.
Vaharai has been the scene of heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil Tigers for months, with over 500 combatants killed since October, according to the military.
The government says the Tigers had used Vaharai as a transit point to smuggle drugs and arms into the country and as a base for the sea wing of their insurgency.
Many Tamil parents, however, claimed their children were being detained by soldiers and a pro-government militia as they fled.
A military official in Mankerni said 11 suspected rebels were detained, and ten of them admitted their involvement with the Tigers.
Hundreds of Tamils have disappeared, apparently abducted by pro-government forces, since last year.
The government has denied involvement in any abductions and appointed a panel to investigate human rights violations blamed both on the military and Tamil rebels.
The UNHCR estimates some 465-thousand people have been displaced by conflict in Sri Lanka, including 204,300 since April 2006.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for more than 20 years for a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 (m) million ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
Although both sides claim to be adhering to a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire, violence has escalated since late 2005 with more than 3,600 people killed last year alone.
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