Sri Lanka said yesterday its troops were poised to capture the Tamil Tigers’ political headquarters and were advancing on the rebels’ main military base.
The battlefield advances against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came as guerilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran marked his 54th birthday and prepared to deliver his annual policy address.
The defense ministry said in a statement that its soldiers were closing in on the northeastern coastal town of Mullaittivu, where the LTTE are believed to have concentrated their forces following recent government gains elsewhere in the north.
“Troops of the 59th division advancing towards the LTTE’s most strategic commanding base in [the] northeastern coastal belt, Mullaittivu ... are further consolidating and extending their defenses,” the ministry said.
It said the strategic village of Olumadu, along a main road to Mullaittivu, also fell into government hands after intense fighting.
POISED
Sporadic clashes continued around the northern town of Kilinochchi, the LTTE’s political headquarters. Government officials said troops were on the attack from three directions and were poised to take control of the area.
“There is fierce fighting going on, but the fall of Kilinochchi is imminent,” the government’s defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters. “Security forces will soon consolidate in Kilinochchi.”
Authorities in Sri Lanka have restricted access to the embattled areas for journalists as well as most aid workers, meaning that claims by either side in the decades-old conflict are normally impossible to verify independently.
REPEATED REPORTS
Sri Lanka has also reported its troops have been closing in on Kilinochchi for several months, including two months ago when it said government soldiers had actually entered the outskirts of the town.
The LTTE say they are putting up a strong defense.
The Tigers used Kilinochchi as their main political center and received visiting local and foreign dignitaries at the 6km long town where they also maintained a court, police and a bank.
The LTTE wants to carve out an ethnic homeland in the north and east of the Sinhalese-majority island.
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