Sri Lanka traps rebels in 'safe' zone
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Intense fighting over three days in Sri Lanka's northeast has left 420 Tamil Tiger rebels dead and pushed the remaining guerrillas into a small "no-fire" zone crowded with tens of thousands of civilians, the military said, a development likely to raise international concerns for the safety of those trapped.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Intense fighting over three days in Sri Lanka's northeast has left 420 Tamil Tiger rebels dead and pushed the remaining guerrillas into a small "no-fire" zone crowded with tens of thousands of civilians, the military said, a development likely to raise international concerns for the safety of those trapped.
The government offensive means the entire Puthukkudiyiruppu area - the last rebel stronghold, on the edge of the safety zone in the island's northeast - is under military control, spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said yesterday. He said the Tamil Tigers were now confined to the "no-fire" zone in a narrow strip of land along a beach.
The zone - just 7.7 square miles - was declared earlier this year by the government as a refuge for civilians caught in the fighting.
But now that the zone is all that remains of rebel territory, the focus turns to what will happen to civilians who fled there in hopes of reaching safety but now find themselves caught in what the military says will be the Tamil Tigers' last stand in a civil war that has spanned 25 years.
The military has accused the rebels of building fortifications inside the "no-fire" zone for a final showdown, but Nanayakkara declined yesterday to comment on what the military's next step would be.
"We want to rescue the civilians. That's our priority," he said.
The government has rejected rebel calls for a cease-fire, but has said it will continue to pause fighting - as it has done in the past - to allow civilians to leave the area.
But earlier yesterday, the military said in a statement that the rebels were "now facing a total annihilation as the soldiers are engaged in man-to-man combat against them in the last terror pocket."
The question is how the military will "annihilate" the rebels while protecting the innocent.
Even before it became the rebels' last territory on the island, the United Nations and aid organizations accused the rebels of firing artillery shells from the "no-fire" zone and holding the civilians there as human shields. The rebels have denied the allegations.
The rebels, in turn, have accused the military of shelling the zone, an assertion the government denies.
The United Nations says 150,000 to 190,000 people are trapped in the zone, with dozens dying each day. But the government says more than 23,000 civilians escaped last month, and 30,000 to 40,000 still remain.
