"This is a humanitarian disaster. I'm asking the world to have mercy on us"

The Sri Lankan army estimates between 15, 000 and 20, 000 civilians are still trapped in the strip of land torn by a fierce battle between Tamils and soldiers.

Because the Sri Lankan army controls all acces to information in the war zone, it is hard to assess exactly how bad the humanitarian situation is around the last posts of the Tamil stronghold. An Observer called us on Thursday from Mullaitivu, a city just a few miles away from the Tamil-occupied territory.

"The last aid ship arrived on April 4"

Sinthu, 22, is a Tamil living in Mullaitivu who lived in France for several years. We were put in touch with her by the Tamil website Tamilnet.com.

There are refugees everywhere around my parent’s house. They sleep on the floor, on the sand. The last cargo ship carrying aid arrived on April 4 - since then there has been nothing. We’re not too badly off because we have a small vegetable garden, but people are asking us for help all the time. They have no food, no sugar, no rice, no milk for children…

I went to the city hospital. It is packed, there are even patients sleeping in the street in front of it. There is no more medication available. When I went all I saw were cotton swabs and serum to bandage the wounded, even those hit by mortar shells from Tamil fighters or the regular army.

It’s a humanitarian disaster. I’m asking people around the world to have mercy on us. They have to call for this war to stop, at least a ceasefire. An entire population is suffering. At least send us some food, some first aid..."