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Army marches to edge of Tamil Tiger capital
Sri Lanka's military battled within 2 km of the separatist Tamil Tigers' headquarters town and allowed civilians to flee before a final siege, the army said on Saturday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:02 October 5, 2008
Colombo: Sri Lanka's military battled within 2 km of the separatist Tamil Tigers' headquarters town and allowed civilians to flee before a final siege, the army said on Saturday.
Battles raged just outside Kilinochchi, seat of the Tigers' quasi-government in the north of the Indian Ocean island, with Mi-24 attack helicopters rocketing a bunker line while ground troops fought insurgents, the military said.
"Troops are 2 km away from Kilinochchi town limits," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. "People already have left Kilinochchi now so they are definitely east of the A9 road. That is why we have given them this safe passage."
Trapped
The A9 is the main north-south highway, and most of the Tiger-held ground is to its east toward the port of Mullaitivu. The army has created a 10-km square no-fire area to allow civilians to go south, Nanayakkara said.
Aid workers say 200,000 people are trapped in the line of fire because the Tigers will not let them leave, and they fear the army after so many years of war, despite the safe passage promise.
Soldiers have slogged closer and closer to Kilinochchi, 330km north of the capital Colombo, over the past month with the goal of wiping out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and ending a war that has raged for a quarter-century.
A new round of fighting between government forces and Tamil separatists killed 23 combatants, the military said yesterday. The Tigers have been silent on battlefield casualties for weeks and could not be reached for comment.
The military's advance on Kilinochchi, a symbolic and strategic target, has sent thousands of civilians fleeing.
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