Sri Lankan troops capture last big rebel town: army

[Al-zakir]

Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:16am EST

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan soldiers captured the last major town held by Tamil Tiger separatists on Sunday, moving a step closer to finishing off one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies, the army commander said.

The eastern port of Mullaittivu is one of the final targets of a military onslaught to end a 25-year war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. The army had not set foot inside it since the Tigers seized it in 1996.

"After one month's fight we have totally liberated Mullaittivu town," Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka said in an address on state television. "We will be able to finish this war soon."

Fonseka said the LTTE-held area is down to 300 square km (186 square miles), cut from 15,000 square km (5,792 sq miles) when the war re-ignited in 2006.

The capture leaves the LTTE confined to a wedge of jungle in the northeast of the Indian Ocean island, with its remaining defenses and bases scattered in a handful of villages.

The 59th Division has been battling up the eastern coast toward Mullaittivu for a year and a month ago reached the edge of the fortified town, which served as a major LTTE operations base.

"We have destroyed large-scale earthen defenses and trenches. We have complete control of Mullaittivu and have destroyed the terrorists," Fonseka said.

The army has racked up a string of victories this month, including capturing the rebels' self-proclaimed capital of Kilinochchi and expelling them from the Jaffna Peninsula.

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 top government official working in the Tiger-controlled area.

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

The LTTE, on U.S., EU, and Indian terrorist lists after years of suicide bombings and assassinations of politicians and rival Tamil figures, could not be reached for comment.

On Saturday, the military said the Tigers had blown up a dam to flood land and slow a rapid army advance. Soldiers also found two facilities for making bombs and landmines, with 4,000 detonators and 150 kg (330 lb) of explosives.

It is difficult to get a clear picture from the war zone, since both sides block independent media from entering it.

The LTTE seized Mullaittivu, a strategic harbor, in 1996 in a massive attack that killed more than 1,000 soldiers. Navy boats have already cordoned off the sea around it, but it had been the last remaining route for the LTTE to bring in weapons
The LTTE began fighting in earnest in 1983 and say they are the sole representatives of the Tamil minority, which complains of mistreatment by successive governments led by the Sinhalese ethnic majority since independence from Britain in 1948.

(Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Sri Lankan troops capture last big rebel town: army | International | Reuters

 

[Evil Flare]

Its a Good News ..

 

[Al-zakir]

Rebels flee to jungle as Sri Lankan troops advance

Monday, 26 January 2009 - 8:41 PM SL Time

Sri Lankan government troops on Monday pushed deeper into the last pockets of jungle still held by the Tamil Tigers after capturing the rebels` final urban stronghold and military headquarters.

Soldiers overran Mullaittivu, a northeastern coastal town held by the Tigers for over a decade, on Sunday -- three weeks after taking Kilinochchi, their political capital where they had their own courts, police and a bank.

Army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) now controlled just a `small strip` of land in the northeast, and were cornered and about to be completely defeated.

`We have cleared 95 percent of the work (to defeat the Tigers),` Fonseka said, as the island`s government expressed confidence it would soon win one of Asia`s longest-running civil wars after a massive military offensive.

`The end of terrorism is near and we will definitely win,` Fonseka said.

Helicopter gunships attacked Tiger positions outside Mullaittivu after soldiers had taken control of the town, the military said in its latest update.

`As advancing troops are now rolling into the remaining Visuamadu LTTE fort, troops continued to confront several pockets of terrorists,` it added.

There has been no comment from the rebels, but the pro-rebel Tamilnet website accused the military of shelling a civilian `safety zone` declared by the security forces. It said 22 civilians had been killed.

Battlefield claims from either side cannot be verified as independent journalists are barred from travelling to the conflict zone.

Aid agencies and human rights workers are also banned from areas where the Sri Lankan military is active.

President Mahinda Rajapakse congratulated his troops, saying Sri Lankans wanted to pay `heartfelt tributes to the war heroes who have fought relentlessly to eradicate terrorism from our motherland.`

The fate of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran -- who has been leading a separatist war against Sri Lanka`s ethnic Sinhalese majority since 1972 -- is unclear, with some suggesting he has already fled the island.

The Tamil Tigers were trained and armed by New Delhi in the early 1980s, but Prabhakaran is now wanted by India in connection with the 1991 murder of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The LTTE, which is listed by the European Union and United States as a terrorist organisation, has become infamous for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers.

The Tigers are widely expected to return to fighting a guerrilla war from hidden jungle bases.

`The military phase has come to an end, but the conflict will go on,` said Jayadeva Uyangoda, the head of political science at the University of Colombo.

`The Tigers may not be able to regain the political or military power that they had before, so they will return to guerrilla tactics.`

Military officials say 50,000 government troops are now fighting fewer than 2,000 Tiger fighters.

Uncertainty also surrounds the fate of an estimated 150,000-250,000 ethnic Tamil civilians. The government and UN agencies accuse the Tigers of holding them as a human shield.

The rebels have accused government troops of firing indiscriminately into areas where there are civilians.

Rajapakse said in a New Year`s address that 2009 would be the year of `heroic victory` over the Tigers and would see an end to the war.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the conflict began but the government pulled out of an on-off ceasefire last year and launched a fresh campaign to crush the Tigers once and for all.

Rajapakse has promised a political solution to the island`s long-running ethnic strife, but only once the rebels are defeated.

Sri Lanka SECURITY:: Rebels flee to jungle as Sri Lankan troops advance

 

[Al-zakir]

TIMELINE-Sri Lanka says 25 years of civil war almost at end
26 Jan 2009 08:09:05 GMT

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka says it is close to finishing 25 years of bloody civil war, army officials said at the weekend after troops captured the last big town held by Tamil Tiger separatists and confined them to a small wedge of jungle.

More than 70,000 people have died since 1983 and millions have been displaced in the war between the government and Tamil rebels who want a separate state in the island's north and east.

Here are some milestones charting the conflict.

1948 - Island of Ceylon gains independence from Britain.

1956 - Government makes majority Sinhala language the language of state. Minority Tamils say they feel marginalised.

1958 - First anti-Tamil riots break out, killing dozens and forcing thousands from their homes.

1972 - Country renamed Sri Lanka, becomes republic. Buddhism designated the principal religion.

1976 - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formed by militant Velupillai Prabhakaran.

1983 - Tiger attack in north kills 13 soldiers, triggering anti-Tamil riots in capital, Colombo. Hundreds die, thousands flee. Start of what Tigers call "First Eelam War".

1987 - Having earlier armed Tigers, India sends troops to enforce truce. Tigers renege on pact, refuse to disarm and begin three years of fighting that kills 1,000 Indian soldiers.

1990 - India withdraws. LTTE controls northern city of Jaffna. "Second Eelam War" begins.

1991 - Suspected Tiger suicide bomber kills former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in southern India.

1993 - President Ranasinghe Premadasa assassinated by suicide bomber. LTTE widely blamed.

1995 - President Chandrika Kumaratunga agrees to truce with rebels. "Eelam War 3" begins when rebels sink naval craft. Tigers lose Jaffna to government forces.

1995-2001 - War rages across north and east. Suicide attack on central bank in Colombo kills around 100. Kumaratunga wounded in another attack.

2002 - Landmark ceasefire signed after Norwegian mediation.

2003 - Tigers pull out of peace talks, ceasefire holds.

2004 - Tamil Tiger eastern commander Colonel Karuna Amman breaks away from LTTE and takes 6,000 fighters with him. Asian tsunami hits in December, killing around 30,000 Sri Lankans.

2005 - Suspected Tiger assassin kills foreign minister. Anti-Tiger hardliner Mahinda Rajapaksa wins presidency.

2006 - Fighting flares in April-July, raising fears of start of "Eelam War 4". New talks fail in Geneva in October.

2007 - Government captures Tiger's eastern stronghold of Vakarai in January. In July, government says it has driven rebels from the entire east.

2008 - Government annuls 2002 ceasefire in early January. By August, troops are advancing on Tiger strongholds on four fronts.

2009 - Jan 2 - Troops seize Tiger's defacto capital, Kilinochchi. Attack helicopters and jets strike remaining rebel towns.

- Jan 7 - Cabinet redesignates Tigers as a terrorist group, saying they are not allowing civilians to leave war zone.

- Jan 9 - Troops take Elephant Pass, former army base and gateway to Jaffna peninsula. Tigers cleared from A-9 road that links north to south for first time in 23 years.

- Jan 25 - Northeastern port of Mullaittivu, the last big rebel-held town, falls. Army says the war is close to the end.

Source: Reuters

(For more on the conflict see Reuters Alertnet crisis profile, Reuters AlertNet - Sri Lanka conflict)

(Writing by Nagesh Narayana and Rob Dawson; Editing by Gillian Murdoch)

Reuters AlertNet - TIMELINE-Sri Lanka says 25 years of civil war almost at end

 

[rubyjackass]

Thanks for the timeline...
very informative...

 

[ajpirzada]

gud news.... they can live in peace now. gudluck to them

 

[DarkStar]

I believe they will just revert back to their old guerilla tactics. There is a lot of funding from expat Tamils in the UK, EU, and US still coming in, as well as Bhaarat.

One has to curtail these sources of funding, before truly hurting the LTTE.