Colombo (PTI): Over 2,200 Tamil civilians on Thursdaybraved LTTE gunfire and made a breakout from the areas held by the rebels indicating that the collapse of Tamil Tigers could be in the offing as Sri Lankan forces pressed ahead with their offensive.

The civilians fled from the last remaining areas held by the LTTE in Waduvakkal in Wanni region and four died and 14 were injured in firing by the rebels, a military spokesman said. U.N. estimates that 50,000 people are still trapped in the war zone.

In scenes reminiscent of the breakout of thousands of civilians in Pudhukudiyyiruppu on April 20, hundreds of people crossed lagoons to reach to safety as international aid agencies said the area was wracked by heavy fighting despite calls by U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.N. Security Council to stop indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas.

The lagoon, military sources said, was the frontline between the government forces and the rebels.

In another development, doctors and medical staff abandoned the only makeshift hospital still operational in the LTTE-held area.

"Doctors and aides abandoned the only hospital in Sri Lanka's war zone amid unrelenting shell attacks," the Associated Press reported, quoting an health official in the northern war zone.

However, the government said there was no hospital in the war zone.

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