Sri Lanka rebels 'lose last town'

Posted by Lasantha Janaka on Monday, January 26, 2009 Comments: (0)

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Sri Lankan troops have seized the last town held by separatist Tamil Tiger fighters,
Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, the army chief, says.

"We have completely captured Mullaittivu," he said in a televised address to the nation on Sunday.

He said the Tamil Tigers now controlled an area of just 300sq km in the northeast of the island.

"The end of terrorism is near and we will definitely win. The Tiger garrison of Mullaittivu was destroyed today," Fonseka said.

It was not possible to independently verify the government's claims, as journalists are banned from the war zone.

The announcement came after the government said earlier in the day that the army had entered the town and hoped to secure it "in hours".

Heavy rebel resistance was reported as small groups of special forces entered Mullaittivu backed by 50,000 soldiers and helicopter gunships.

End of war?

The military has made dramatic gains in recent months, pushing the Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the island, back to a small area in the east of the country.


Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan military captured the town of Kilinochchi, the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital in the north of the island.

The Tamil Tigers have not commented on the government's claims.

In the capital Colombo, some Sri Lankans responded to the news that the 25-year civil war could be over by honking their car horns and lighting firecrackers.

But Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Colombo, said the fall of Mullaittivu might not halt the country's long-running conflict.

"The LTTE are still strong, they still have a lot of backing and maybe we haven't seen the end of the Tamil Tigers yet. The country is practically down on its knees, not only because of the cost of executing this war, but because of the loss of revenue from tourism which was a major earner for Sri Lanka.

"But the issues that have caused this war 25 years ago have not been resolved and some of the critics of the government say there is a need for a political solution. That seems to be put on the side and at the moment, it seems to be military solution."

Dam destroyed

Birtley said earlier that the rebels could flee to the jungles and carry on fighting.

The rebels took control of Mullaittivu in 1996 when they overran a military camp there, killing nearly 1,000 soldiers.

On Sunday, the military said that the retreating rebels had flooded two villages after destroying a reservoir in an attempt to stall advancing government troops.

Tamil Tiger fighters used explosives to destroy the walls of Kalmadukulam reservoir on Saturday, as government troops advanced on Visuamdu, in Mullaittivu district, a statement said.

Details of the welfare of villagers and the damage caused by flooding from the dam were not immediately available.

Soldiers also clashed with fighters in Chundikulam village in the same district and hours later recovered the bodies of two Tamil Tiger fighters, according to the statement.

As fighting has intensified, aid groups and diplomats have expressed fears for the safety of hundreds of thousands of civilians reportedly trapped in Tiger-held territory around Mullaittivu.

"As the conflict lines get closer these people are becoming more and more exposed to intense fighting and are increasingly caught in the crossfire," James Elder, a spokesman for the UN in Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera.

Civilian deaths

"We are calling on the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] to meet their international responsibilities and guarantee that the civilian population can move freely and get away from this conflict zone," he said.
The rebel-affiliated TamilNet website said that five civilians were killed on Friday and 83 wounded when the army fired artillery shells into a government-declared "safe zone" for displaced families.

A doctor in the area confirmed on Saturday that five civilians were killed in shelling.

The military denied firing into the civilian settlements and launching attacks on the "safe zone", accusing the Tigers of carrying out the assaults themselves to keep civilians out of the area.

Human rights organisations have accused the rebels of using the civilians as human shields to block the government offensive.

Sri Lanka Tamils retreat to jungle

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Aid agencies say that about 230,000 civilians are trapped in the war zone [EPA

Tamil Tiger fighters have retreated into the jungles of northern Sri Lanka after losing their last stronghold, according to the government's military.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) control only a "small strip" of land in the northeast and are cornered, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, an army spokesman, said on Monday.

"We have cleared 95 per cent of the work [to defeat the Tigers] ... the end of terrorism is near and we will definitely win," he said.

The army announced the capture of Mullativu, the last town to be held by the Tigers, a day earlier but some analysts have suggested the Tigers are at home in the jungle and could mount a counter-attack.

With the fall of Mullativu, which the LTTE had held since 1996, the Tigers are believed to be confined confined to 300 square km of jungle in Sri Lanka's northeast.

Dramatic gains

Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Colombo, said: "In the past ... the Tigers launch a counter-offensive and hit back hard.

Sri Lanka's Tamils

The Tamils are an ethnic group found mainly in Southern India and Sri Lanka.

Population: Tamils comprise about 10 per cent of Sri Lanka's 21 million people

Inequality: The Tamils say they have been subject to persecution and discrimination by the country's Sinhalese majority, including restricted access to farming land, fishing areas and food

Demands: The Tamil Tigers want a self-governed state for Tamils

"But, according to the army, they are no longer in a position to do that kind of counter-offensive.

"However, the Tamil Tigers did start in the jungle 25 years ago and, as they've gone back to it, it's going to be a much harder job to clear them out than it was out of Mullativu town."

The government has expressed confidence it will soon win one of Asia's longest-running civil wars.

"The troops are consolidating their positions in Mullaittivu today," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a Sri Lankan military spokesman, said.

"Other troops are moving towards Puthukudiruppu and others are fighting south of there," he said.

Independent verification of the ongoing military operation is almost impossible because journalists, aid agencies and human rights workers are barred from the frontlines.

The military has made dramatic gains in recent months following a massive campaign, pushing back the Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the island.

Fears for civilians

Earlier in January, the Sri Lankan military captured the town of Kilinochchi, the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital in the north of the island.

As fighting has intensified, aid groups and diplomats have expressed fears for the safety of hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Aid agencies say about 230,000 civilians fleeing the fighting are trapped in the war zone. Rights groups and the government accuse the LTTE of keeping them as human shields.

At least 100 civilians were killed in artillery exchanges last week, according to a government official working in the Tiger-controlled area.

The army has set up a 32 square km safe zone, but said the LTTE had moved its artillery and heavy weapons inside it.

Asked about the civilian casualties, Jeevan Thiagarajah, the executive director of Sri Lanka's Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, told Al Jazeera: "We are seeing civilian casualties who are being brought by ambulance to the Vavuniya hospital, and I think at best it indicates they are very close to the fighting."

The pro-LTTE TamilNet website accused the military on Monday of hitting the safety zone, killing 22 civilians and wounding 60, citing unnamed medical sources.