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Sri Lanka says it is nearing ‘beginning of end’ in conflict

Sri Lanka’s army chief said yesterday his forces had wiped out two-thirds of the Tamil Tigers’ military capability, and that the decades-old conflict with the rebels was at its tail-end.

Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas’ capability had been depleted to a large extent, and would gradually start collapsing, the state-run Daily News paper said in its defense column.

“We are almost at the beginning of the end ... we are nearing the turning point now, through the way LTTE is reacting. In another three to four months time you would see very clearly how the things change,” he said.

He said security forces had already advanced 40km into rebel-controlled territories in the north during the latest military offensive that began in 2006.

During the period, the Tigers lost at least 9,000 fighters, Fonseka said, while revising upwards the rebels’ current strength to 5,000 combatants.

He said that previous military estimates of their strength had been too low.

The general said the guerrillas had also been able to recruit about 3,000 more fighters, while another 200,000 civilians provide logistic support.

“Now we hear that they are training anybody over 15 years and below 50 years. But they cannot be motivated to fight a battle,” Fonseka said.

The rebels have not released their estimate of casualties. Figures from either side cannot be independently verified.

Fonseka said the guerrillas were no longer able to resist security forces using conventional tactics and were resorting to hit-and-run attacks.

Since July last year, security forces have been trying to dismantle the de facto state in the north of the country.

Fonseka said progress had been deliberately slow.

“The tail-enders of a cricket team do not perform the same way, like the middle order batsmen and the opening batsmen do,” Fonseka said.


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