COLOMBO, Sept 21(Reuters) -- Thousands of Sri Lankans who have fled the country's war zones, nearly all Tamils, lined up on Sunday to register under what police say is an essential security measure to crack down on Tamil Tiger militants.

From 8 a.m. (0230G), people queued at schools, temples other public buildings to give their details to police, who earlier this week ordered all those who had fled five war-affected districts in the past five years to come and be counted.

The order, which affects those who came to the Indian Ocean island's capital, Colombo, and the surrounding Western Province, came as the military is intensifying an offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in the north.

The Tamil Tigers, on U.S., European and Indian terrorism lists, have fought since 1983 in one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

Since independence from Britain in 1948, the island nations has been ruled by governments led by the majority Sinhalese people, who are 75 percent of Sri Lanka's 21 million population. (Reporting by Bryson Hull; Editing by David Fox)

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