COLOMBO, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has asked for international pressure to be brought on the Tamil Tiger to allow the free passage of civilians out of the battle zone in the north.

    "We are appealing to our international friends to urge the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to help us care for the civilians", Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Minister of Human Rights said here Friday.

    Samarasinghe's comments came after the country's President Mahinda Rajapaksa late on Thursday challenged the rebels to allow civilians to leave the combat zone. The government accuses the rebels of using the civil population as a human shield.

    The International Committee for the Red Cross on Thursday confirmed the evacuation of 226 civilians, including children, whohad been wounded in fighting over the last 10 days in and around Mullaithivu, the last LTTE stronghold along the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka.

    The aid agencies say some 230,000 civilians are caught in the fighting within the last bits of rebel-held territory. They have described the overall humanitarian situation as precarious for thousands.

    Samarasinghe said the government was deeply concerned about the plight of the civilians and every measure would be taken to safeguard the human rights of all civilians.

    Sri Lanka's troops say 95 percent of the rebel territory had been taken and it would be just a matter of time before the rebels are completely crushed.

    The LTTE since the mid 1980s waged a bloody separatist war to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east provinces.