All civilians rescued without shedding a drop of blood: Srilanka

Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said "soldiers saved all Tamil civilians trapped inside the war zone without shedding a drop of blood".

"This great task was possible because of the care shown regarding this by President Mahinda Rajapaksa," Samarasinghe said.

He said this task could not have been possible without the dedication shown by thousands of soldiers of the armed forces who were constantly engaged to rescue the people.

Samarasinghe gave an assurance that all civilians will be resettled in their original living places after all landmines have been removed.

Meanwhile, China has donated 64,000 tents for the Tamil civilians and the first plane load of the tents arrived here yesterday.

It was ceremonially handed over to Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa by the Chinese Ambassador Yang Xiuping here. Three more Chinese plane loads of aid will arrive soon.