WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Sri Lanka pushes ahead with war on rebels
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-05 07:32

Battle tanks rumbled north, attack helicopters flew overheard and artillery fire roared through the jungles as Sri Lankan forces pushed ahead yesterday with an offensive aimed at capturing the Tamil Tigers' last strongholds and crushing the rebel group.

Two days after the military seized the rebels' administrative capital of Kilinochchi, the government led a victory tour of the newly seized areas in the north, providing journalists a rare glimpse of the war zone and the damage left behind.

The army was using Paranthan Junction, a strategic crossroads the military captured on Thursday, as a staging area to send troops into the fight for two of the biggest prizes remaining in the battle, the rebel-held areas of Elephant Pass to the north and Mullaittivu to the east.

"Day by day, the Tigers' territory is shrinking and their numbers are dwindling. The objective of finishing this war won't be that long off," said Major General Jagath Dias, who commanded the battle for the town of Kilinochchi.

Rebel spokesmen were not available for comment, but previous efforts to destroy the group have failed.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.

The military said yesterday that troops continued to push deeper into insurgent territory, and one rebel was killed in new fighting.

From Paranthan Junction, artillery barrages aimed at the rebel areas could be heard every two minutes.

Tanks rolled out of the crossroads, lined with war-damaged buildings and a pulverized gas station. A memorial to slain rebel fighters in the middle of the road was now surrounded by flags from the army units that captured the area.

Special forces troops with rifles and grenade launchers prepared to head to battle as aircraft flew overhead.

Rebel capital

The government has barred independent journalists from traveling to this area for a year and a half, but it agreed to bring reporters here to show off its success in driving the rebels out of their main stronghold.

In Kilinochchi itself, nearly every building was missing its roof, and many of the structures were badly damaged, presumably from airstrikes and artillery barrages.

Dias said the former rebel headquarters would be used as the main staging area to launch future offensives against the Tamil Tigers.

The town, and the main highway running through what was once the rebel heartland, were nearly deserted, except for some stray dogs and abandoned cows.

Army teams waved land mine detectors over the road bed and dug up the middle of the main A-9 highway searching for booby traps left behind by the fleeing rebels.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians lived in the Kilinochchi district and other regions that were controlled by the rebels before new fighting in the quarter-century civil war erupted again three years ago. Those people have disappeared into the jungles as well, fleeing ahead of the recent government offensive.

But 22 civilians came back into the town yesterday and were seen staying in the hospital.

Ratnam Navaneethan, a 28-year-old laborer said that he left Kilinochchi and went northeast into Vaddakachchi village after the rebels ordered civilians to vacate the town. He managed to return to Kilinochchi after hiding in the bush for five days, he said.

During yesterday's tour of Kilinochchi, reporters were shown the 17-km-long defensive fortifications the rebels built to defend their capital, including a moat backed by an earthen wall more than 2 m high and 5 m deep.

Every 10 m, there was a break in the massive barrier where guard posts and sniper positions made of logs and branches had been built.

Clothes and rubber flip-flops lay scattered about, along with makeshift stretchers made of sacks and sticks.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/05/2009 page7)