The Sri Lankan government said Wednesday that it has begun resettling thousands of eastern civilians displaced by fierce battles between Tamil Tiger rebels and government troops.

Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defense spokesman told reporters that the program was launched with the objective of settling some 16,000 civilians at Vakarai in the Eastern Province.

Vakarai came under government control on Jan. 19 after government troops had launched an offensive late October last year to regain the area from the control of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

Rambukwella said 85 percent of the area in the Eastern Province now remained under government control after government troops dealt blows on Tiger strongholds in the province.

"We will resettle civilians and restore civil administration in Vakarai," Rambukwella said, adding that the government would also resettle some 23,000 displaced near the eastern strategic port of Trincomalee.

The minister said that some 10,000 civilians from Thoppigala, a pocket of rebel presence in the province have arrived in the government controlled area.

The thickets of Thoppigala in the eastern Batticaloa district is currently being targeted by the military to flush out the rebels.

The military clashes in the east which began eight months ago were part of the escalation of the armed conflict that had accounted for the deaths of more than 4,000 people over the last 15 months.

Source: Xinhua