COLOMBO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The military in Sri Lanka said 135 civilians fled the No Fire Zone (NFZ) controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels in the north to the area controlled by the security forces on Wednesday, the first day after the ending of a two-day truce declared by the government.

    The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that 42 men, 38 women and 55 children escaped from Puttumatalan and Valayarmadam areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and sought protection with 58th Division troops operating in the general area of Ampalavanpokkanai.

    On Tuesday, 239 civilians escaped from the NFZ to government controlled area, said the ministry.

    Meanwhile, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara told reporters on Wednesday that the troops are observing the NFZ after the two-day government called truce came to an end at midnight of Tuesday.

    Nanayakkara said the Army's 53rd Division and Task Force 8 are placed west of NFZ while 58th and 59th divisions have positioned themselves north and south respectively of the NFZ.

    "They are also helping out civilians who leave the NFZ to safety," Nanayakkara added.

    The government said the truce was aimed at allowing people trapped in the NFZ time to celebrate the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year and the LTTE to release the civilians.

    The actual number of civilians trapped in Mullaittivu district's NFZ of some 20 sq km is being debated.

    The government argued that only 120,000 people lived there, out of which more than 60,000 had already left. But international agencies said some 230,000 people had been originally trapped.

    A concerned international community has pleaded with both the government and the rebels to care for the safety of civilians amid allegations that a large number of them are receiving injuries or getting killed in the crossfire.

    The troops said the rebels' near three decade old armed campaign would soon end when the Army cleared the remaining part of the northern Mullaittivu district.

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

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