Sri Lanka's government said it pushed Tamil Tiger rebels from the mouth of strategic Trincomalee harbor yesterday, and that it would therefore halt its offensive.
The government recaptured the southern edge of the harbor after days of artillery battles for control of the area called Sampur. The rebels had been able to shell a major naval base and disrupt a maritime supply route to the besieged army-held Jaffna peninsula to the north from their positions in Sampur.
"We are in total control," said government defense spokesman and minister Keheliya Rambukwella. "Thereafter, we will not continue with any offensive operations unless we are forced to as a result of enemy action."
He said the entire harbor mouth, which had included several Sea Tiger bases, was now in government hands.
The Tigers had no immediate comment. Analysts fear they may launch attacks elsewhere in retaliation. Hundreds of troops, rebels and civilians have been killed and more than 200,000 people displaced during more than a month of renewed civil war.
By Sunday, at least 14 soldiers had been killed and 92 wounded since the Sampur offensive began a week earlier. The army estimates around 120 rebels were killed there by the weekend.
There were no details of any new casualties during yesterday's advance. Analysts said the Tigers appeared to have pulled out of Sampur, a tiny settlement containing a handful of rough houses and shops, a Sea Tiger memorial and an LTTE political office. Most of the civilian population had already fled south.
"It looks as though the LTTE pulled out without any direct confrontation because of the artillery fire from the armed forces," said Jane's Defence Weekly analyst Iqbal Athas.
Yesterday's push came after the Central Bank's Financial Intelligence Unit said it had frozen bank accounts belonging to the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), effectively the rebels' humanitarian wing, amid a probe into whether aid money is being given to the rebels for weapons.
Sri Lanka is deadlocked over the Tigers' demands for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east, where the Tigers already run a de facto state.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected their demand out of hand, and diplomats and analysts fear a war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983 will grind on.
Yesterday, Rajapakse told a ruling party rally that the capture of Sampur to prevent artillery attacks on a naval port would not lead to full-scale war.
"This is not war, we are only responding to an attack on us," he said.
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