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Tamil Tigers vow to fight on as troops advance
Sri Lankan soldiers pressured the Tamil Tigers' last stronghold on the Jaffna Peninsula yesterday, while the separatist rebels vowed to overcome the latest in a series of battlefield losses.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:38 January 7, 2009
Colombo: Sri Lankan soldiers pressured the Tamil Tigers' last stronghold on the Jaffna Peninsula yesterday, while the separatist rebels vowed to overcome the latest in a series of battlefield losses.
Soldiers began sandwiching the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Tuesday from the north and south of the bottleneck linking the island to the peninsula, and skirmished yesterday, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
That 12-km by 6-km wide area, covered with bunkers, landmines and defences, is the only part of the traditionally Tamil land of Jaffna the rebels have controlled since the military seized the bulk of the peninsula in 1995.
On Tuesday, troops on the northern front seized a rebel defence line as soldiers began to advance from the south, where the army lost one of its key bases in a humiliating defeat in 2000.
Rebels last stand
Once that strip is cleared, the military is expected to direct most of its forces toward Mullaittivu, the only major town still held by the rebels, and where analysts say the LTTE has been moving its fighters and heavy weapons for a final stand.
The northeastern port is across the jungle from Kilinochchi, the self-proclaimed rebel capital the Tigers lost on Friday.
LTTE political head B. Nadesan, in an interview said the Tigers had lost and reclaimed Kilinochchi before.
"The simple truth is that we have taken forward our struggle for more than 30 years, solely relying on the support of our people. We are certain that the continued support will enable us to overcome current and future challenges," TamilNet quoted him as saying.
The Tigers formed in the 1970s and began waging war in earnest in 1983, saying they were fighting for Sri Lankan Tamils against mistreatment by the majority Sinhalese, who dominated government since independence from Britain in 1948.
But their prolific use of suicide bombings and assassinations of political opponents including Tamil politicians not in their ranks has landed them on US, EU and Indian terrorism lists.
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