The announcements on Voice of Tigers radio gave no reasons for ordering people to move out but residents fear an LTTE attack on the town is imminent. "There is large-scale confusion. People are scared. They don't know what to do," said an aid-worker in the area. About 50,000 people, including a large number of refugees displaced from other parts of northern Sri Lanka, live there. No one has moved out yet, but according to reports, people were preparing for the eventuality.

Assurances from the army to the populace are reported to have had no calming effect. Vavuniya is the biggest town in northern Sri Lanka to be under continuous government control since 1990. With a huge garrison stationed there, it is almost a cantonment.

But after the LTTE's conclusive rout of the military last week, people have no faith in the army. Moreover, the victorious southward advance of the Tiger juggernaut has put it within striking distance of Vavuniya, in fact, within range of the artillery that the Tigers have stolen from the army in various battles.

Residents speaking over the phone said they could hear heavy shelling to the north. The LTTE is now believed to have dug in about 20 kms north of Vavuniya and is pounding Omanthai, 10 kms away. The continuing fighting after last week's devastating defeat for the military is threatening to become the main issue in the December 21 presidential elections in which President Chandrika Kumaratunga is seeking re-election for a second term.

"It has decided the outcome of the government's military campaign against the LTTE, and it has sealed the fate of Kumaratunga," Ranil Wickremesinghe of the UNP said.