Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an offensive push in Chilaavaththai in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) have seized ammunitions and recovered at least 6 dead bodies of the SLA, according to the reports from Mullaiththeevu.
The Tigers have claimed that they have repulsed the SLA push in Chilaavaththai and that the SLA had suffered heavy casualties in the confrontation.
LTTE did not issue casualty details on its side.
The clearing mission was continuing.
Grievous blow to Sri Lankan media
 Rights groups argue that journalists face a culture of intimidation |
The murder of Sri Lankan newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga highlights the claim often made by human rights groups that the country is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to operate.
He is the latest in a long line of Sri Lankan journalists who have been murdered or silenced over the past two decades.
Many of the victims have not met their fate in the country's war zone, because for much of the past 20 years independent journalists have been banned from reporting from the conflict areas.
Instead they have been targeted in Colombo - and nearly all of them had records of exposing official corruption or what they said was inept handling of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.
The war now appears to be reaching its final, crucial stage as the army continues to make in-roads into the rebels' northern stronghold.
'Iconoclastic journalist'
"Mr Wickramatunga's death is a serious blow for press freedom because he was one of the few reporters in the country who could write authoritatively about the government and Tamil Tigers' conduct of a brutal war which has claimed thousands of lives over the years but has been consistently under-reported by much of the world's media," said Priyath Liyanage, editor of the BBC's Sinhala service.
 Recent coverage of the war has increased tension in the media |
Campaigning groups such as Reporters Without Borders say that the targeting of journalists has worsened in recent years. Only on Tuesday, gunmen armed with grenades ransacked offices of the largest private TV broadcaster in the country.
"Sri Lanka has lost one of its more talented, courageous and iconoclastic journalists," a Reporters Without Borders statement said.
"President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his associates and the government media are directly to blame because they incited hatred against him and allowed an outrageous level of impunity to develop as regards violence against the press. Sri Lanka's image is badly sullied by this murder, which is an absolute scandal and must not go unpunished."
Amnesty International last year said that at least 10 media workers were killed over a two-year period. It said that many more were abducted, detained or had disappeared.
Last month Human Rights Watch called on the government to free prominent Tamil journalist, JS Tissainayagam. His magazine accused the government of "shamefully using anti-terror laws to silence peaceful critics".
Criminal libel
One of those reporters who steadfastly refused to be silenced was Lasantha Wickramatunga. A flamboyant and colourful character, he was not afraid to expose the perceived wrongdoings of the country's most influential politicians.
 |  The Rajapaksas are swollen... with the pride of bloodthirsty euphoria [following the fall of Kilinochchi] and are unable to think beyond the destruction of the Tamil Tigers and its leadership  Lasantha Wickramatunga |
I interviewed him in Colombo in 2000, when his paper was closed down because it mockingly avoided censorship regulations by reporting the opposite of what had really happened.
At that time the army was in retreat and the northern Jaffna peninsula was close to falling to the Tigers. The paper avoided the censor by reporting that Jaffna was safe in the government's hands and that the army was on the offensive.
On another occasion Mr Wickramatunga obtained the credit card details of a government minister to show that his bills were being illegally paid for by a foreign company eager to invest in the country.
While some of the material Mr Wickramatunga produced arguably veered towards the prurient, his "publish and be damned" attitude to journalism meant that at times he was able to expose high-profile cases of government corruption which meant that he received numerous death threats and several periods of detention.
'Flamboyant'
"I believe it is my duty not to accept anything the government tells us at face value," he told me, "and it is especially our duty not to allow the press in Sri Lanka to be brow-beaten or censored. We need to tell the outside world about the horrific nature of the war in which we are currently involved."
His work exposing government dealings in arms procurement deals - especially a recent agreement to buy MiG fighters from Russia - earned him a reputation as one of the country's most fearless reporters.
 Many Sri Lankan journalists say they are being gagged by the govenrment |
At the same time it also earned him a reputation as being one of the strongest critics and bitterest enemies of the governing People's Alliance party.
Few reporters would dare write what he did in his most recent editorial - in which he referred to the president's "bloodthirsty euphoria" following the fall of the Tamil Tiger-held town of Kilinochchi last week.
"Should we fail meaningfully to address the aspirations of the Tamil people that survive this holocaust, we can be sure as night follows day that history will repeat itself... and all the bloodshed and all the sacrifice made to bring the war to a conclusion will have been in vain," he said.
While there is little evidence to suggest Mr Wickramatunga was unduly partisan in his reporting, his position was perhaps undermined by his known support for the opposition United National Party, for whom he once stood as a parliamentary candidate.
BBC Sinhala editor, Priyath Liyanage, says Mr Wickramatunga "was one of Sri Lanka's most flamboyant, brave and outspoken journalists".
"His death is a further grievous blow to press freedom in a country where few openly dare to question the government's handling of the war."
Gunmen raid Sri Lanka TV station
 Authorities have pledged a thorough investigation |
Gunmen armed with grenades have ransacked offices of the largest private TV broadcaster in Sri Lanka.
The attack near Colombo followed some criticism in state media of the MBC group's coverage of recent army gains against Tamil Tiger rebels.
More than a dozen intruders held guards at gunpoint and shot up equipment, causing extensive damage.
The media minister condemned the attack and said the president had ordered a full investigation.
Journalists in Sri Lanka have suffered a string of recent attacks and media freedom groups say intimidation and violence make it one of the most difficult countries in the world in which to report.
The latest attack follows army gains against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country.
The rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi fell last Friday and troops are on the outskirts of the strategic Elephant Pass that links the mainland to the Jaffna peninsula.
US condemnation
The attack on the MTV studios, run by the MBC group, took place in the early hours of Tuesday.
| It's either that the citizens of Sri Lanka are able to drive around attacking institutions armed with weapons and grenades, or there is a hand behind it Chevaan Daniel, MTV  |
Guards were forced to take the attackers to the main control room, where equipment was destroyed with gunfire.
Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said the attackers were unknown but there would be a thorough investigation.
Rights activists said there had been criticism of the way the organisation's three television stations and four radio channels had covered the recent army victories.
Some state media at the weekend said it gave too much coverage of a Tamil Tiger suicide attack that followed the fall of Kilinochchi.
Nationalist politicians in the past have accused the group of sympathising with the rebels.
When asked who carried out the attack, MTV head Chevaan Daniel told Reuters news agency: "It's either that the citizens of Sri Lanka are able to drive around attacking institutions armed with weapons and grenades, or there is a hand behind it."
Susil Kindelpitiya, a news director on one of MTV's channels, said the attack was due to "our unbiased reporting".
The US embassy said in a statement that it "deplores this latest in a series of criminal attacks on the independent media in Sri Lanka".
Amnesty International said in November that at least 10 media employees had been killed in Sri Lanka since 2006.
Ruined remains of rebel 'capital'
Barely a building remains with a roof in captured Kilinochchi
| By Roland Buerk BBC News, Kilinochchi |
Attack helicopters flew overhead, tanks spluttering black smoke squealed and rattled through town on tracks rusty from the last monsoon, and soldiers with bandoliers of bullets slung around their necks posed for photographs in front of Tamil Tiger war memorials.
Two days after the fall of Kilinochchi, the town that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had used as their de facto capital was firmly under military control.
Almost all journalists have been refused access to much of northern Sri Lanka for a year and a half.
But the government was keen to show off its greatest prize so far in this phase of the war, so reporters were crammed into an Mi-17 transport helicopter for a ride to the front.
It was so full some had to stand.
The pilots flew very low and very fast, at treetop height over jungles recently captured from the Tigers, a precaution against being shot down.
 Sri Lankan troops are securing the roads around the town |
Wild peacocks on the ground below staggered to get away in the down force as we rushed overhead.
The helicopter landed south of Kilinochchi and we drove into the town in armoured personnel carriers, up the main A9, dubbed the Highway of Death in Sri Lanka because so many have been killed fighting for its control.
At one place soldiers were waving metal detectors over the middle of the road, probing for mines.
In Kilinochchi there was hardly a building with a roof. Shops were in ruins or pockmarked with bullets, a huge water tower was lying on its side.
Trappings of state
On the western side of town, the bodies of rebels who died fighting for independence for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority still lay in a huge cemetery, under long rows of identical grey cement tombstones. The ornate gates, which used to feature ironwork of upturned AK-47s, had been destroyed.
| It's the capital of the LTTE... We have captured their prestige Maj Gen Jagath Dias |
The Peace Secretariat, where the Tigers met visiting diplomats and journalists during the failed 2002 ceasefire, was a shell. The windows and furniture had gone, the paving stones in the car park had been torn up.
A commando armed with rocket-propelled grenades guarded the gate. Nobody is talking peace now.
Kilinochchi was a potent symbol of the Tigers' separatist aspirations.
There they had established the trappings of the state for the Tamil minority for which they have fought for a generation.
They had law courts there, administrative offices, a tax system, even their own bank.
All that has now been smashed and abandoned.
 The Tamil Tigers have headed east to the jungles and Mullaitivu |
"It's the capital of the LTTE," said Maj Gen Jagath Dias, who led the 57th Division of the Sri Lankan army into the town. "We have captured their prestige. It's a very important milestone, it's a great achievement."
But the military has taken a town virtually devoid of people. Apart from soldiers the only signs of life on the streets were stray dogs.
The vast majority of the remaining population left with the Tigers towards the east, the jungles and Mullaitivu.
The government says they have been forced to go with the rebels as human shields.
The Tigers say they have gone of their own accord because they support their aims.
About 20 people who were in Kilinochchi had been gathered in a waiting room at the otherwise empty town hospital.
There, while a large number of soldiers and officers looked on, they told us they were happy to see the back of the Tigers.
One 14-year-old girl said the rebels had forced her to fight.
The Tigers' former headquarters town will now be used as a staging post for the next phase of the offensive against them.
Already government forces are advancing beyond Kilinochchi, and the sound of artillery fire thumped steadily over the jungles and fallow paddy fields.
Special forces troops bedecked with weaponry could be seen readying for the battle.
The remaining strategic targets for Sri Lanka's military include Elephant's Pass to the north on the narrow isthmus that leads up to Jaffna, and Mullaitivu, the last remaining town under Tiger control, which is on the north-east coast.
MAP OF THE REGION
Army pressures Tamil Tiger base
 Troops captured the strategic Elephant Pass last Friday |
Heavy fighting is reported around the sole remaining Tamil Tiger stronghold of Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka as the army presses ahead with its offensive.
The defence ministry said troops had captured one "administration base" with jets bombing jungle hideouts.
Rebel sources have not commented on the claim, but say civilians have been wounded by artillery fire.
The army is pressing ahead after capturing the rebel HQ of Kilinochchi and the strategic Elephant Pass.
Independent journalists are not allowed to report from the war zone so information cannot be verified.
'Exodus'
A defence ministry statement on Tuesday said there were "bitter clashes" around Mullaitivu - the rebels' remaining major base.
|  |
It said an administration base, training camp and bunker line had been captured.
On Monday the military said it had attacked rebel positions from the air, including one base near Mullaitivu it said was known to be visited by rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Since losing Elephant Pass, the main link to the Jaffna peninsula, last Friday, the rebels are operating in a region of jungle to the south of there and east of Kilinochchi.
The Tigers have not commented on the military situation but the pro-rebel TamilNet website said that many civilians had been wounded on Tuesday morning by artillery fire in the region.
Meanwhile, the government said it was fully prepared to handle "the mass exodus of civilians" the fighting might cause.
The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.
The rebels had established a de facto state squeezed between government-controlled Jaffna in the north and the rest of the country.
But the latest military offensive has forced the rebels to give up much of their territory.
MAP OF THE REGION
