More flee Lanka war zone

More than 2,200 people have fled Sri Lanka's war zone in the last two days as the military on Friday vowed a rapid finish to the 25-year-old war while protecting thousands of trapped civilians.

Fighting is concentrated around a shrinking circle of jungle in the island's northeast, where the military said it has all but surrounded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam separatists.

Trapped inside the 175 sq km battlefield are tens of thousands of civilians, whom aid agencies, the government and a growing list of nations have said are being held in the war zone by the Tigers. But they have started to come out in the past three weeks.