Sri Lanka’s President ordered the army this morning to stop using heavy artillery and aerial weapons against the Tamil Tigers to minimise casualties among the civilians trapped with the rebels.

Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that he had told troops to use only light weapons and to focus on rescuing civilians from the five-square-mile no-fire zone where the Tigers are pinned down with thousands of civilians.

He stopped short of ordering the ceasefire that the international community has pressed for, and it was not clear if his order would have any effect as the army has said for weeks that it is using only light weapons.

The announcement came as John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, wound up a three-day visit to Sri Lanka, and Britain, France and Sweden prepared to send their foreign ministers to the country on Wednesday.

"The Government of Sri Lanka has decided that combat operations have reached their conclusion,” said a statement from President Rajapaksa’s office.

“Our security forces have been instructed to end the use of heavy-calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons, which could cause civilian casualties. Our security forces will confine their attempts to rescuing civilians who are held hostage and give foremost priority to saving civilians."

The Tigers immediately accused the military of breaking the President’s orders by carrying out two airstrikes on the no-fire zone, according to TamilNet, a pro-rebel website.

It quoted Seevaratnam Puleedevan, a rebel spokesman, as saying that the Government was “deceiving the international community”.

It is impossible to verify information from either side as the Government has banned most independent reporters from the frontline. The Times has been refused a journalist’s visa to Sri Lanka since August.

However, aid workers, rights groups and doctors inside the no-fire zone have accused both sides of killing non-combatants, despite their repeated denials and pledges to protect civilians.

The UN estimates that more than 6,400 civilians have been killed since January 20 and believes that many more will die if the fighting continues.

The Government, however, appears determined to finish off the Tigers, bringing a formal end to a 26-year civil war that has killed more than 70,000 people.

The army says that it has rescued 113,000 civilians from the no-fire zone in the past week and estimates that the Tigers are still holding between 15,000 and 20,000 inside the zone.

The UN puts the number of non-combatants there at 50,000 and says that the refugee camps where the rest are being held and screened are severely overcrowded.

Mr Holmes is due to meet Mr Rajapaksa later today after visiting some of the camps and hospitals, which aid workers say are also overwhelmed by the influx of civilians, many of them badly injured and traumatised.

Mike Foster, a junior British international development minister, arrived in Colombo this morning and was due to visit the camps and hold talks with government officials.

He told The Times yesterday that Britain was sending 5,000 tents to Sri Lanka immediately to help civilians. Gordon Brown has pledged £2.5 million in emergency aid.

Conditions inside the camps will be one of the main issues for discussion when David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, and his French and Swedish counterparts arrive.

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