The United States accused Sri Lanka yesterday of causing untold suffering as troops seized more territory inside a no-fire zone where they have pinned down Tamil Tiger rebels with tens of thousands of civilians.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, issued the strongest criticism of the military campaign by any foreign government as the UN Security Council prepared to meet last night to discuss the conflict.

“I think that the Sri Lankan Government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering,” she told Congress.

The criticism is a blow to the Sri Lankan Government, which considers Washington to be an ally. It claims to be on the verge of defeating the Tigers, who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland since 1983. The army said that two key Tiger officials had surrendered as troops rescued more civilians from the no-fire zone, bringing the total who have escaped since Monday to more than 100,000.

It said that one of those who surrendered was Velayudam Dayanidi, better known as Daya Master, who was the main spokesman for the Tigers for years. He is the most senior rebel to have surrendered so far.

The reported surrender was a propaganda coup for the army because the Tigers have sworn to fight to the death — and to take the cyanide capsules they wear around their necks if they are captured.

Sri Lankan officials said that they hoped more rebels would abandon Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tigers, in the next few days.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said that 3,000 Tigers were among those who fled the no-fire zone, which covers five square miles. The army is poised to launch its final assault but the UN and the Red Cross said that there were still up to 60,000 civilians inside the zone and warned of a bloodbath if the offensive continued.

Other aid workers warned of insufficient facilities and supplies at the camps where all civilians leaving the conflict zone are being held.

“The biggest issue is numbers — they are so huge it’s draining all our resources,” said Roshan Mendis, of Leads, an NGO helping 15,000 people in one of the camps. “I’d put this as high and as long as the tsunami \ in terms of the scale of the operation.”

Médecins Sans Frontières, the medical aid agency, said that its staff had received 400 patients from the front line in the past two days at a hospital in Vavuniya. Twenty people died on their way to the hospital on Monday.

Thangamuttu Sathyamurthi, one of the few doctors working in the no-fire zone, said that the bodies of 80 civilians were taken to makeshift hospitals on Monday.

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found