Amnesty International on Wednesday said Sri Lanka was unable to provide for the basic needs of 300,000 people trapped inside rebel-held areas and accused Tiger guerrillas of using them as human shields.

The London-based rights watchdog said two thirds of people living in the rebel-controlled northern area of Wanni have been driven out of their homes in the ongoing wave of fighting.

`More than 300,000 people face the next few months crowded together in temporary shelters, surrounded by mud, with no promise of regular access to food or adequate sanitation,` Amnesty`s Asia Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said.

The situation was becoming `critical` he said, adding that Amnesty had testimony to prove Sri Lanka was unable to look after its internally displaced people.

Only 2,100 temporary shelters have been built for 4,000 families while some 20,000 families were still without proper shelter, Amnesty said.

About 95 percent of the displaced people have no proper sanitation while an acute shortage of safe drinking water was creating a high risk of an outbreak of water-borne diseases, the report said.

`There is a huge gap between what the government is saying and how the situation seems to be developing on the ground,` Zarifi said.

Amnesty also accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of not allowing civilians to move into safer places and instead using them as human shields in the face of the military onslaught.

`The abuses carried out by the LTTE make our call for international monitors to be allowed to visit conflict-affected areas even more pressing. These families must not be forgotten and left to suffer in a war zone,` Zarifi said.

There was no immediate comment from the Tigers, but Sri Lanka`s foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama brushed aside Amnesty`s claims that the government was unable to look after the internally displaced.

`Amnesty`s information is not right. There is absolutely no shortage of food, medicine or any essential item in the Wanni. No one has died due to starvation. There is no outbreak of epidemic diseases,` he told reporters here.

Amnesty also urged Sri Lanka and the LTTE to give international monitors access to those `trapped` in the conflict.

As troops pushed to dismantle the LTTE`s northern stronghold of Kilinochchi within the Wanni, the government ordered aid workers out of the area in September, leaving only a small number of Red Cross workers.

However, Amnesty said international staff need to be involved in the humanitarian relief work to ensure aid reaches those most in need.