The Ceylon News

Sri Lanka pushed its offensive against the Tamil Tigers on Saturday, as the country's top defence official accused the rebels of infiltrating international organisations in a bid to force a ceasefire.

As fresh fighting was reported in the north, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse was quoted in the state-run Daily News as saying that international relief agencies as well as news organisations were doing the Tigers' bidding.

While foreign governments and agencies have called on Colombo to halt its offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to avoid civilian casualties, the government has refused, saying it is on the verge of victory.

"There is a well orchestrated campaign to discredit the government and the security forces and bring pressure on it to declare a ceasefire by LTTE agents who have infiltrated international organisations and media institutions," Rajapakse was quoted as saying by the Daily News.

While Sri Lanka has resisted calls for a "no fire period" to allow civilians to get out of the conflict zone, rights groups and foreign governments have also accused the Tigers of holding civilians as a human shield.

Rajapakse said that people allegedly in the pay of the Tigers were "fabricating stories to invent a scenario of a human catastrophe and are disseminating false information."

Rajapakse, who is the younger brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, said there were fewer than 100,000 civilians trapped by the ongoing fighting in the northeast of the island, while UN agencies have put their numbers at 250,000.

"The actual number of civilians trapped in the Wanni is less than 100,000," he said.

His remarks came a day after a stone-throwing mob attacked the office of the International Red Cross in Sri Lanka's capital, as Colombo accused the agency of inciting panic over civilian deaths from the fighting.

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had placed an order for 35,000 body bags to be used in the northeast

ICRC spokeswoman Sophie Romanens confirmed an order for body bags but rejected the figure provided by Rambukwella.

"We help in the transfer of bodies of combatants across the front lines and for this we need body bags, but the number we have ordered is far, far less than 35,000," she said.

The ICRC has a presence in Sri Lanka's embattled northeast and has also acted as a neutral intermediary in transporting the remains of combatants across front lines.

Those front lines were moving rapidly on Friday with the military taking more bases from the Tamil Tigers, who have been pushed back into a narrow patch of coastal jungle in Mullaittivu.

Military officials said that ground troops had stepped up attacks against remaining Tiger lines of resistance and carried out more air strikes on Friday evening.

In one bombing raid against a two-storey building of the Tigers, at least 11 guerrillas were killed late on Friday, Air Force spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said.

The Sri Lankan envoy here has created a stir by warning Canadian MPs against sympathising with the Tamil Tigers.

By sympathising with the Tamil Tigers who had carried out many suicide bombings, the envoy said, Canadians were putting themselves at risk of terrorism.

''I have told police officers here, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a suicide bomber here in Canada. Those who sleep with tigers will be swallowed by the tiger,'' Sri Lankan consul general Bandula Jayasekara was quoted as saying in the local media on Friday.

Reminding the lawmakers that Toronto had been turned into an important source of money for the Tamil Tigers, the envoy said, ''So those who sleep with terrorists will have to die with terrorists.''

The envoy was reacting to the use of the word ''genocide'' by some Canadian MPs during an emergency debate in Parliament on the Sri Lanka crisis on Wednesday night.

He said Canadian politicians were playing ''low politics'' with the internal affairs of his nation.

Since Sri Lankan Tamils form a huge chunk of votes in their constituencies, Jayasekara said some Canadian '' politicians are pandering to their constituency, and they have no right to accuse another sovereign nation.''

He said, ''These politicians just read out from the press releases issued by terrorists and terrorist sympathisers, and these politicians have no right to try to insult another sovereign nation.''

Despite the Canadian ban on the LTTE, he said Liberal Party MPs were attending Tamil Tigers functions.

Sea Tiger chief Soosai was reported missing after Sri Lankan Air Force jets pounded his hideout killing at least 27 rebels, even as 5,000 civilians crossed over to the Army held areas in wanni, officials said on Saturday.

It was immediately not confirmed whether Soosai was killed or wounded in the attack but he was missing.

"Air Force fighter jets yesterday pounded a hideout of senior Tiger leaders located one km north-east of Pudukudirippu Junction in Mullaitivu," Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said.

"Eleven LTTE cadres including senior LTTE cadres and their body guards had been killed while a large number of militants had also been severely injured in the air strike" Nanayakkara said.

It was later confirmed that the hideout targeted was the coordinating headquarters of the LTTE Sea Tiger.

"It is now confirmed that as a result of monitoring LTTE communications, the Sea Tiger leader Soosai is reportedly missing," Media Centre for National Security said.

The LTTE cadres using dozers (large powerful tractor) were seen digging up the hideout targeted, it said, adding the jets attacked the same hideout again destroying the dozers and others equipments used for digging.

The US, Britain, the European Union and other major powers have urged the LTTE to surrender, and for both sides to stop firing temporarily to allow civilians out and aid in.

However, Sri Lanka's government has rejected a call by international donors for it to begin negotiating with the LTTE.

Damien Kingsbury, a professor at Australia's Deakin University and an expert on Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera that the LTTE is not going to accept unconditional surrender.

"Quite clearly they fear that if they do surrender, they will be treated very badly if not killed on the spot," he said.

"The options of a peace deal at this stage look very slim. The government really needs to offer a genuine autonomy package or at least begin to talk about it in conjunction with the ceasefire.

"That doesn't appear to be on the table at this time."

Kingsbury said: "Tamil civilians are claiming that they are being very badly mistreated in this conflict ... and this is going to widen the gap between the government and Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority."

Sea base captured

Sri Lankan military officials on Thursday said that following the fall of the Chalai base, the LTTE was now left with just 20km coastline in the northeastern district of Mullaittivu.

"The army has just moved into the Chalai base," a military official said.

"Troops are now consolidating their hold in the coastal area."

There was no immediate comment from the LTTE on the government claim.

The seizure of Chalai would disrupt LTTE supplies as the sea base was used to receive arms and fuel from other countries through a widespread smuggling network.

Robert Karniol, a defence analyst, said capturing or killing Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE chief, is now crucial to a government victory.

"The Tigers have been structured in such a way that they are a very centralised organisation. Prabhakaran has been a very charismatic and very ruthless leader, and he is central to the continued existence of the organisation," Karniol told Al Jazeera.

"If through circumstance, through luck or through skill Prabhakaran is captured or killed, it's very likely that the Tigers are pretty well finished."

The Sri Lankan government has vowed to "destroy militarily" the Tamil Tigers while insisting that it is not targeting civilians.

Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defence spokesman, said the campaign against the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) will not be stopped due to any pressure.

"Nothing will be discussed with the LTTE. The LTTE will be militarily destroyed," he said.

A statement from the office of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's president, said he had assured Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, that the offensive "would be carried out without harassment to the civilian population".

Officials have accused the LTTE of using civilians as human shields.

Food crisis warning

The UN has, meanwhile, given warning on a food crisis in the country's north.

Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the World Food Programme, said in Geneva on Friday that the entire population of Vanni is facing a food crisis.

Some 250,000 people there are completely dependent on humanitarian aid, but the WFP has not been able to get a supply convoy into the conflict zone since January 16, she said.

A convoy that was supposed to enter during a four-hour "humanitarian window" on Thursday could not go because the agency did not receive the necessary clearance from government officials.

It will have to wait until next Thursday, Casella said.

"We don't have any more stocks to be distributed, and our staff are essentially hiding at the moment,'' she said.

Civilian exodus

More than 2,200 civilians are said to have fled the war zone in the last several days, official sources said on Friday.

The reported flight of civilians came after the military announced the capture of the biggest LTTE sea base.

The military released a video on Saturday showing its seizure of the base.

The fighting is concentrated around a circle of jungle in the country's northeast, where the military says it has all but surrounded the LTTE.

Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) this week seized an arms storage from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), sources close to LTTE told TamilNet Friday. Hundreds of SLA crack commandos were drawn into Mannaka'ndal and Keappaapulavu 'boxes' and were cut off from their rear supplies during a pre-emptive strike by the Tiger forces, resulting in the loss of more than one thousand SLA soldiers since February 01. An arms storage, which was full of weapons as the SLA was in full preparation to launch its 'final assault' on PTK was seized by the Tiger commandos engaged in the preemptive strike.

PTK attack

Tiger female commandos in final preparation before the preemptive strike [Photo: LTTE]


PTK attack

An LTTE commando with mortar [Photo: LTTE]
PTK attack

An LTTE commander of the female fighters [Photo: LTTE]
PTK attack

LTTE female commandos before launching the attack [Photo: LTTE]

The sources further revealed that there were at least 20 mortars, thousands of shells, several hundreds of assault rifles, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG), RPG launchers and a conservative estimate of one million rounds were among the arms and ammunitions seized by the Tigers. The Tigers had emptied the store of stockpiled arms and ammunitions by the time the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombed the location of its own arsenal.

Meanwhile, more than 100 SLA soldiers perished in a Black Tiger attack on Tuesday in Keappaapulavu, according to Wednesday edition of Eezha Naatham daily, the only newspaper printed in LTTE controlled territory.

The newspaper displayed photos of Black Tiger (BT) cadres with the LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan.

The BT cadres rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the SLA installation and the Tiger commandos stormed the 'box' and brought it under their control.

Meanwhile, reliable sources in Vavuniya, quoting informed Sri Lankan military officials, said an SLA Colonel who had refused to retreat with his soldiers and was insisting his rear command re-establish supply links to his stranded unit, was the target of the BT attack.

The sources in Vavuiniya also quoted Sri Lankan military officials as saying that there have been a number of surprise attacks and ambushes by LTTE units operating deep inside the SLA occupied territory in recent weeks.

Around 20 supply vehicles of the SLA that attempted to link up were destroyed in the attack. The Tigers also seized heavy weapons and military hardware, the sources further said.

The LTTE has released photographs of female commandos taken before the pre-emptive strike.

Meanwhile, defensive fighting was reported north of Mullaiththeevu near Chaalai.
LTTE fighters in tank
Tiger fighters in a tank heading towards a frontier.