Sri Lankan troops yesterday captured the last patch of coastline held by the Tamil Tigers, leaving the rebels completely surrounded and cut off from any sea escape, the military said.
The Sri Lankan government has vowed to press on to secure the final defeat of the Tigers despite international calls for a ceasefire to save the lives of thousands of trapped civilians.
In a new appeal to Sri Lankan authorities, EU foreign ministers said “the fighting must stop now.”
PHOTO: AFP
Two divisions of government soldiers that have been advancing along the coastline from the southern and northern ends of the rebel territory linked up yesterday morning, a military official said.
“The Tigers still have a few square kilometers of land, but not the use of the beach front,” he said.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has vowed to take the last territory from the Tigers by today, ending the separatists’ decades-long armed campaign for an ethnic Tamil homeland.
The Tigers controlled nearly one third of the island only two years ago, operating an effectively autonomous Tamil state.
Their defeat is unlikely to bring peace to Sri Lanka, instead seeing Tamil fighters return to the guerrilla hit-and-run tactics that they have used to devastating effect in the past.
Thousands of civilians continued to pour out of the rebel zone where they had been held by the Tigers in dire conditions.
“They are slowly giving up. They are blowing up whatever arms and ammunition they have,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said of the remnants of the once-powerful Tamil Tiger army.
Tamil Tiger founder and leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is thought to be with his troops as they make a last stand.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, was heading to Sri Lanka in a fresh effort to stop the carnage and was expected to reach Colombo late yesterday.
The UN’s human rights office has said an independent probe into war crimes in Sri Lanka was vital.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said staff were “witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS