COLOMBO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The military said on Wednesday that 1,386 civilians fled Tamil Tiger rebels' territory to the government troops controlled area in the north on Tuesday.

    Officials from the Defense Ministry said the civilians have sought protection with troops now operating at North of Iranapalai and Andampuram in the Mullaittivu district.

    The military said the civilians were held hostage by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealm) rebels as a human shield for over three months.

    The government has charged that the LTTE are holding Tamil civilians as human shields in the current fighting.

    Although humanitarian agencies estimated some 230,000 civilians were trapped in the northern Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts, the government said the figure was less than 120,000.

    The government also says it maintains a regular supply of food and essentials to the civilians who are still trapped in the battle.

    The government says the LTTE have been limited to a small patch in Mullaittivu after the military recorded unprecedented success in the current military campaign started in 2006.

    The LTTE began to rebel against the government to set up a separate homeland for the minority in the north and east in the mid-1980s, based on claims that the minority Tamils were being discriminated by the majority Sinhalese dominated governments.

    More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict since the mid-1980s in one of the world's longest civil wars.